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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. | 



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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 









THE STORY OF 

THE MEMORIAL FOUNTAIN TO 
SHAKSPEARE 

AT STRATFORD-UPON-AVON 



](^one>st ttjater tfeat ne'er 
itft anp man in tt)e mire 



ALSO ACCOUNTS OF THE HERBERT AND COWPER WINDOW, 

WESTMINSTER ABBEY; THE MILTON WINDOW, ST. 

MARGARET'S CHURCH, WESTMINSTER; AND THE 

BISHOPS ANDRE WES AND KEN RE RE DOS, ST. 

THOMAS'S CHURCH, WINCHESTER, 

ENGLAND — GIFTS OF 

GEO. W. CHILDS 



EDITED by/ 

L^'^CLARKEMDAVIS 






CAMBRIDGE 

PrinteD at tlje Ktoersfine '^xtm 

1890 




) 



■Sills 



^ritJateTp ^rinteb. 




EXPLANATORY, 




S there is nothing, however remote or insignifi- 
cant, connected with Shakspeare that is with- 
out value to those who, with Ben Jonson, "love the 
man," or ''do reverence his memory," I have thought 
that the ''story" of The Memorial Fountain erected at 
Stratford-upon-Avon by Mr. George W. Childs would 
be neither valueless nor uninteresting. 



For the compiling of this Story of the Stratford 
Fountain, which is but a gathering and putting together 
of what has been elsewhere said and written, I have no 
better warrant than that, not only have I found therein a 
pleasant occupation for some leisure hours, but to me 
the subject seemed worthy of being revived from the 
newspapers — in which, through patient delving, I mainly 
found it — and of receiving a more permanent form. 



iv Explanatory. 

Whatever value this book may have lies, I know, solely 
in the fact that it tells, with more or less completeness, 
the Story of the Origin, Building, and Dedication of 
the most imposing architectural monument erected in 
any country to the genius of Shakspeare. There must 
be both pride and pleasure to every American in the 
reflection that this Stratford Memorial is the gift of a 
fellow-citizen who in giving and building neither gave 
unwittingly, nor builded better than he knew; he did 
both in the confident hope and faith, I am convinced, 
that his gift would add another link — however slight — 
to that chain of brotherhood between Englishmen and 
Americans which so many of the leading minds in Re- 
ligion, in Politics, in Literature, • and on the Stage on 
either side of the Atlantic, have been, during late years, 
so earnestly engaged in welding firmer, and closer, and 
stronger. 

In selecting that which is herein presented from the 
great mass of material in the public journals of the day, 
both English and American, I rejected all that did not 
seem pertinent to the objects I had in view, whereof the 
first is to give permanency to the history of the Stratford 
Fountain, and whereof the other is to let the story bear 



Explanatory. v 

record of the general recognition of the fine motive 
which inspired the gift. If I have retained anything 
which may not seem germane to these objects, and which 
should, perhaps, have been rejected, I have erred only 
through a zealous wish to present as much evidence as 
possible of the sincerity and universality of that inter- 
national spirit of fraternity to the existence of which the 
newspapers of the Old Country and of the New testi- 
fied so strongly in their remarks upon Mr. Childs's 
Shakspeare Memorial. 

To the Story of the Fountain I have deemed it not 
inappropriate to add brief accounts of certain other gifts 
which, in the interest of the same broad spirit of inter- 
national brotherhood, Mr. Childs, as a representadve 
American, has presented, at different times, to England 
and to the English people. 

L. C. D. 



^^. 




TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



I. The Story of the Memorial Fountain to Shaks- 

PEARE, AT Stratford-upon-Avon . . • • 3 

II. An Account of the Window in Westminster 

Abbey to the Memory of the Christian Poets, 

Herbert and Cowper 159 

r 

III. The Window in St. Margaret's Church, W^est- 

minster, Commemorative of the Genius of the 
Poet Milton 181 

IV. The Memorial Reredos erected in St. Thomas's 

Church, Winchester, England, to the Pious 
and Learned Bishops Andrewes and Ken . 239 



VU 




SHAKESPEARE FOUNTAIN 



STRATFORD-UPON-AVON 



THE STRATFORD-UPON-AVON FOUNTAIN. 



INTR on UCTQR Y. 




HE late J. O. Hallowell-Phillipps begins his 
' Outlines of the Life of Shakspeare' in 
the words following : '' In the reign of 
King Edward the Sixth there lived in Warwickshire 
a farmer named Richard Shakspeare, who rented a 
cottage and a small quantity of land at Snitterfield, 
an obscure village in that county. He had two sons, 
one of whom, named Henry, continued throughout 
his life to reside in the same parish. John, the 
other son, left his father's home about the year 155 I, 
and shortly afterwards is found residing in the neigh- 
boring and comparatively large borough of Stratford- 
upon-Avon." 

This John Shakspeare was the father of William 
Shakspeare, England's and the world's greatest poet. 



2 The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 

sage, and philosopher, whom Garrick apostrophized 
as — 

" That demi-god! 
Who Avon's flowery margin trod, 

While sportive fancy round him flew ; 
Where Nature led him by the hand, 

Instructed him in all she knew, 
And gave him absolute command." 

From the days of Ben Jonson, who declared his 
love for Shakspeare to be as great as that of any, 
"this side idolatry," to the present time, there has 
been no lack of pseans chanted to him. But it is one 
of the most remarkable things concerning the general 
love and admiration for him that throughout England 
there was not for centuries after his death a single 
monument of imposing character erected to his 
memory. 

The poet that filled the spacious times of great 
Elizabeth with the splendor of his genius, who 
created a new literature in Germany, who gave 
original vitality to that of France, and whose work 
will survive the " wreck of matter and the crush of 
worlds," had erected to him, by his widow or son-in- 
law, seven years after his death, in 1623, the rude 
effigy in Trinity Church at Stratford-upon-Avon; and 
in 1740 the bust in Westminster Abbey was set up as 



The Stratford-upon-Avon Foimtain. 3 

a memorial of him. There was no other monument 
subsequently erected, in all England, to Shakspeare 
until Baron Grant put in Leicester Square the statue 
which is still tjiere, to serve as a token of a private 
citizen's public spirit. 

In Basse's ' Elegy on Shakspeare,' published in 
1633, occur the following lines addressed to the 
triumvirate of great dead poets lying together in 
the Poet's Corner in Westminster Abbey: — 

" Renowned Spenser, lie a thought more nigh 
To learned Chaucer ; and rare Beaumont, lie 
A little nearer Spenser, to make room 
For Shakspeare in your threefold-fourfold tomb." 

To which *' rare Ben Jonson" replied: — 

" My Shakspeare, rise; I will not lodge thee by 
Chaucer or Spenser, or bid Beaumont lie 
A little farther off to make thee room. 
Thou art a monument without a tomb, 
And art alive still while thy book doth live, 
And we have wits to read, and praise to give." 

Shakspeare's bones still lie undisturbed in the 
church at Stratford-upon-Avon, and only that poor 
bust proclaims his presence in the British Pantheon. 
The reason for this apparent neglect on the part of 
Englishmen to honor by some form of outward 



4 The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 

show the fame of the greatest of all poets may pos- 
sibly be found in the reply of Jonson. He would 
have no memorial of him erected in the Abbey, as 
his ' book' was the best and most appropriate monu- 
ment he could have so long as m.an had wit to read 
or praise to give. That thought may have been a 
common one in the English mind, and, therefore, 
his loyal countrymen would have no memorial of 
him which, whatsoever it* might be, would still be 
less than that of the poet's genius, which was his 
own best monument. 

But, however that may be, it is certain that in 
the Jubilee Year of the Victorian reign, when the 
Fountain erected at Stratford-upon-Avon by the 
munificent and catholic spirit of an American citizen 
was unveiled, it was not only the most imposing 
monument in all England to Shakspeare, but it was 
the only one the dignity of which impressed the 
spectator as in any way worthy to commemorate the 
genius of that mighty intellectual monarch whose 
mind was as a throne before which all the world 
of thought still delights to reverently bow down. 



The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountat?i. 



THE INCEPTION OF THE MEMORIAL. 

In the autumn of 1878 the Very Reverend Arthur 
P. Stanley, D.D., Dean of Westminster, visited the 
United States, and during his sojourn in Philadelphia 
was, as so many distinguished foreigners previously 
were and have since been, the guest of Mr. George 
W. Childs. In the course of an after-dinner talk the 
venerable Dean, whose love of the literature of his 
country was not less sincere than his knowledge of 
it was profound, spoke feelingly of the absence of 
any suitable memorial of some of those who had 
laid so broad and deep the foundations of English 
poetry. Especially he spoke of Shakspeare, and of 
the strange neglect of the British-speaking people to 
erect an appropriate monument to him even in the 
place of his birth. The Dean of Westminster was 
greatly impressed by what he had seen and heard in 
America, and particularly was he moved by the 
noble hospitality of which he was everywhere the 
recipient, and which he was modestly pleased to 
think emanated not so much from personal regard 
for himself as from the common feeling of kinship 
which he felt bound the peoples of the two countries 
together. For his cousins across the sea he was 



6 The Stratford-npon-Avon Fountain. 

inspired with admiration, respect, and affection, and 
his broad and generous sympathies induced him to 
think that no better thing could be done by Enghsh- 
men or Americans than to strengthen the beHef that 
was surely growing up among their leaders of 
thought in the reality of their mutual feeling of 
fraternity and fellowship. 

The gift of Mr. Childs of the Herbert and Cowper 
Window to Westminster Abbey had been suggested 
by Dean Stanley, and it was on the occasion to which 
reference is above made that this eminent divine ven- 
tured to state to his host that a memorial of similar 
or other character of Shakspeare set up in the Church 
at Stratford-upon-Avon by an American would have 
a certain influence for good throughout England and 
America. Subsequently, after the Dean's return to 
his own country, Mr. Childs wrote to him to say that 
he had considered the suggestion of placing a memo- 
rial window to Shakspeare in the Church by the 
Avon, which is the Poet's tomb, and that he would 
be pleased to make the gift upon the sole condition 
that Dean Stanley would himself not only determine 
what form it should assume, but personally under- 
take the execution of the donor's purpose. 

In a letter dated December 3, 1878, Dean Stanley 
said, in reply to Mr. Childs, " With regard to your 



The Stratford'Upon-Avon Fountain. 7 

generous offer of the window, will you let me delay 
my complete answer till the week after next, when I 
shall hope to have seen the Church? I am inclined 
to think that Stratford being, next to Westminster 
Abbey, the place (I believe) most frequently visited 
by Americans, might be considered an exceptional 
locality." 

Subsequently, on December 18, 1878, Dean Stan- 
ley wrote, from Stratford-upon-Avon, the subjoined 
letter : — 

"My Dear Mr, Childs : — 

''In pursuance of my promise I have come here to 
look at the Church and see what place there would 
be for the window which, in accordance with my 
suggestion, you so kindly offered to give. 

" I find that on one side of the chancel there is a 
place for windows containing subjects frOm the Old 
Testament, of which one has already been erected 
by the collective contributions of Americans, and 
two others remain to be supplied. It would, I 
think, be very suitable that the one next in order 
should come from Philadelphia. It consists of 
seven or eight compartments, and I would suggest 
that as the window alongside contains The Seven 
Ages of Man, taken from different characters of 



8 The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 

the Old Testament, so the next should contain some 
other Shakspearian subject also taken from the Old 
Testament. If you will allow me to think over this, 
I will do my best for your generous intentions. You 
will be interested in learning that the last visitor to 
Shakspeare's home before my arrival here was a 
Philadelphian; also the last guest whom I entertained 
in London before I left to deliver my address in Bir- 
mingham (which was on the History of the United 
States) was your excellent Minister, Mr. John Welsh. 
"We have been much gratified in England by the 
sympathy shown in America for our Queen. 

"Yours, with all kind remembrances, 

"A. P. STANLEY." 

This was the last communication which Mr. 
Childs received from the Very Reverend Dean of 
Westminster on the subject of the Shakspearian 
Memorial Window, it being understood between 
them that a window such as recommended should 
be placed in the Church of Holy Trinity, Dean Stan- 
ley undertaking to have it designed and executed. 

The onerous and exacting character of his public 
duties prevented the Dean proceeding immediately 
with the work, and it was not long afterward that 
failing health interfered with his purpose, and his 



The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 9 

death, which occurred in mid-July of 1881, brought 
to a close for the time being the intention of Mr. 
Childs to carry out his reverend and venerable 
friend's suggestion. 

In 1886, , however, it was proposed, and a Com- 
mittee was appointed by some of the most distin- 
guished lovers of Shakspeare in England, to restore 
the church at Stratford-upon-Avon in which the 
bones of Shakspeare lie. Appeals for contributions 
to secure the execution of this object were made, 
not only to the cultivated people of Great Britain, 
but to those of the United States as well Amono- 
others who were greatly interested in the plan of 
restoration was James Macaulay, M.D., an honored 
and esteemed British scholar. Dr. Macaulay, who 
is one of the oldest friends of Mr. Childs, per- 
sonally appealed to him to contribute to the Resto- 
ration Fund. To this appeal Mr. Childs promptly 
rephed that he would give whatever sum Dr. 
Macaulay should suggest as desirable and befit- 
tmg; but before an answer was received to this 
generous offer the Restoration Committee disagreed 
in respect of the character and extent of the work 
to be done, and the entire scheme failed of accom- 
plishment. Subsequently, on September 9, 1886, 
Dr. Macaulay wrote to Mr. Childs, acquainting him 



lO The Stratford-Kpon- Azwn Fountain. 

with the failure of the Committee to carry out 
the contemplated alteration or restoration of Holy 
Trinity Church, and advising him that the request 
for a contribution to that object was withdrawn. 
In this letter Dr. Macaulay, however, suggested that, 
if his friend had yet a desire as an American to pay 
tribute to the genius of Shakspeare in his own town, 
he could do it in no better way than by erecting a 
drinking fountain to his memory, " to be placed in 
the Market Square, where there is none, and which 
would be a handsome thing from an American." 
Dr. Macaulay added : •' I think I once suggested this 
to you, and that it might be associated with Shaks- 
peare by a motto taken from his works. It would 
be a useful gift both to man and beast." 

Mr. Childs, it appears, accepted this suggestion 
readily, it being in happy accord with the spirit in 
which he had previously contributed the Memorial 
Window to the genius of the Christian poets, Her- 
bert and Cowper, in Westminster Abbey, and sub- 
sequently, the Milton Window, in St. Margaret's, 
Westminster. It evidently seemed to him to afford 
another opportunity to add to the ties of fraternity 
and friendship between England and America, an 
object which appeared most desirable, and which 
being accomplished in the Queen's Jubilee Year 



The Stratford-tipon-Avon Fountain. 1 1 

would have the greater significance as being a recog- 
nition by Americans of Victoria's brilliant and useful 
reign of half a century. 

THE MEETING OF THE COUNCIL. 

Mr. Childs's hearty compliance with Dr. Macau- 
lay's suggestion was communicated by the latter 
gentleman to Sir Arthur Hodgson, the Mayor of 
Stratford-upon-Avon, who, on the 15th of December, 
wrote to him as follows : — 

** My Dear Sir : Many thanks for your kind let- 
ter : the name of Mr. Childs is no great surprise to 
me, and I shall be delighted to announce his most 
generous offer, which will supply a much and long 
needed want in this Borough, and to move the ac- 
ceptance of Mr. Childs's offer at the meeting of my 
Council on the 21st instant." 

On the next day notification was sent by the 
Town Clerk to the members of the Corporation 
Council : ''The Mayor requests your attendance at a 
special meeting of the Council to be holden at the 
Town Hall, on Tuesday, the 21st day of December 
instant, at 1 1. 30 o' the clock in the forenoon pre- 
cisely, where the following business is proposed to 
be enacted : . . . . 



12 The Stratford-upon-Avon Foiuitain. 

" The Mayor to read a letter dated December 8th, 
1886, from James Macaulay, Esq., M.D., the editor 
of ' The Leisure Hour,' London, conveying an offer 
from George W. Childs, Esq., of Philadelphia, to 
the Mayor and Corporation of Stratford-upon-Avon 
of a Public Drinking Fountain as 'the gift of an 
American citizen to the town of Shakspeare in the 
Jubilee Year of Queen Victoria.' 

'' The Mayor to move that Mr. Childs's kind and 
generous offer be accepted, with grateful thanks, by 
this Corporation." 

On the 22d of December Sir Arthur Hodgson 
wrote to Dr. Macaulay the following letter : — 

" My Dear Sir : I have much pleasure in enclosing 
copy of a resolution unanimously and with acclama- 
tion adopted yesterday at a full and special meeting 
of the Council of the Corporation of Stratford-upon- 
Avon." 

The resolution above referred to is herewith sub- 
joined : — 

" That Mr. George W, Childs's (of Philadelphia) 
kind and generous offer of a Public Drinking Foun- 
tain, ' a gift to the Corporation of Stratford-upon- 
Avon of an American citizen in the Jubilee Year of 
Queen Victoria,' be accepted by the Corporation with 
grateful thanks." 



The Stratford-upon-Avo7t Fountain. 13 

The London 'Times/ of the 22d of December, 
under the caption of " The Queen's Jubilee," gave 
the subjoined account of the Council's proceed- 
ings :— 

" At a meeting of the Stratford-upon-Avon Town 
Council, yesterday afternoon, a letter was read from 
Dr. Macaulay, editor of ' The Leisure Hour,' stating 
that he was authorized by Mr. George W. Childs, 
of Philadelphia, to offer for the acceptance of the 
Corporation a handsome drinking fountain as the 
gift of an American citizen to the town of Shaks- 
peare in the Jubilee Year of Queen Victoria. Mr. 
Childs expressed the hope that the fountain would 
be evidence of the good-will of the two nations who 
have the fame and works of the poet as their com- 
mon heritage. Dr. Macaulay added that Mr. Samuel 
Timmins, of Birmingham, had kindly undertaken to 
obtain from an eminent architect designs of the 
proposed structure for the approval of the Town 
Council. The Corporation passed a hearty resolu- 
tion of thanks to Mr. Childs for his munificent gift." 

On the day after the passage of this resolution 
the ' New York Herald ' published from its London 
correspondent the following special cable dispatch :— 

"The Corporation of Stratford-upon-Avon has 



14 TJie Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain, 

voted the heartiest thanks of the town to Mr. George 
W. Childs, of Philadelphia, for his gift of a Drinking 
Fountain to the place. In his letter presenting the 
gift Mr. Childs expresses the hope that the fountain 
will prove an evidence of good-will between the two 
nations having the fame and works of Shakspeare as 
a common heritage." 

With reference to this despatch, on its editorial 
page, the * Herald,' in its issue of the same date, 
said : — 

'* Mr. George W. Childs has given a drinking 
fountain to Stratford-upon-Avon, * as evidence of 
good-will between the two nations having the fame 
and works of Shakspeare as a common heritage.' 

'• It was a graceful act on the part of Mr. Childs, 
and is gracefully acknowledged by the Corporation 
of Stratford-upon-Avon, as will be seen in our foreign 
despatches. Such little acts of courtesy are not the 
least effective of incidents in sustaining pleasant in- 
ternational relations." 

On December 24, 1886, the same journal pub- 
lished the subjoined special despatch from its 
Stratford correspondent : — 

"Stratford-upon-Avon, December 23, 1886, 
The name of the great American philanthropist, 



The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 15 

George W. Childs, will henceforth be associated 
here with the name of Shakspeare. 

"At the meeting of the Town Council on Tuesday 
the Mayor, Sir Arthur Hodgson, while stating that 
Mr. Childs had offered to present Shakspeare's 
birthplace with a magnificent drinking fountain in 
honor of the Queen's Jubilee, referring to a letter 
which he held in his hand, added : * The donor 
simply asks the Corporation to furnish water, and at 
night lights. Mr. Childs would submit to the Cor- 
poration several designs for their choice, and he sug- 
gested that the fountain should be dedicated, either 
on the next birthday of the poet, or on June 20, the 
anniversary of the Queen's accession to the throne 
fifty years before.' 

"Alderman Bird, amid renewed cheers for 
America and Mr. Childs, seconded the Mayor's 
motion of acceptance and thanks. In the course of 
some very eulogistic remarks concerning the donor 
the Alderman said : ' The latter's generosities are 
widely known to the civilized world. Especially, 
Englishmen remembered Mr. Childs's gift of an 
American Window to Westminster Abbey in memory 
of the poets Herbert and Cowper, which had an ad- 
ditional interest from the fact that the late Dean 
Stanley furnished the inscription to it." 



1 6 The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 

After a conference the Council agreed to devote 
Jubilee Day to the ceremonies of receiving the gift. 

The ' Illustrated London News' of February 26th 
contained the ensuing reference to the gift by the 
eminent author, George Augustus Sala : — 

"Mr. G. W. Childs, of Philadelphia, U. S. A., well 
known, not only for his enterprise as a newspaper 
proprietor, but for the splendid hospitality which he 
has so long dispensed to travellers in the States — he 
was the friend of Dickens and of Thackeray — has 
made a graceful and generous Jubilee gift to the 
town of Stratford-upon-Avon. Some time since, Mr. 
Childs offered through Dr. Macaulay, the editor of 
'The Leisure Hour,' to present a drinking fountain 
to Stratford, as the offering of an American citizen 
to the town of Shakspeare in the Jubilee Year of the 
good Queen Victoria. The offer was gratefully ac- 
cepted by the Corporation ; and a few days since the 
site for the fountain was fixed upon by a committee 
of ta^te, including the Mayor, Dr. Macaulay, Mr. 
Sam Timmins, " Mr. Charles Flower, and several 
members of the Town Council, accompanied by the 
Borough Surveyor. It was finally decided to erect 
the fountain in the large open space in Rother 



The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. ly 

• 
Street, which is midway between the Great Western 
Railway Station and the central part of the town. 

" Mr. G. W. Childs has aheady won golden 
opinions of the English people by his munificence 
in placing in Westminster Abbey a noble window 
of stained glass in memory of two English poets 
and worthies, George Herbert and William Cowper. 

"G. A. SALA." 



THE SITE AND DESIGN SELECTED. 

On February i/, 1887, the 'New York Herald's' 
special correspondent at Stratford-upon-Avon cabled 
the subjoined particulars with regard to the proposed 
gift:— 

" Sir Arthur Hodgson, the Mayor, Dr. Macaulay, 
editor of * The Leisure Hour,' the friend and corre- 
spondent of Mr. George W. Childs, with members 
of the local Town Council, met here to-day and 
decided upon the site and the design for a drinking 
fountain, which is the Jubilee gift of Mr. Childs to 
Shakspeare's town. As hitherto cabled to the 
* Herald,' the design is hy the architect Cossins, of 
Birmingham. The structure will be of granite, 
sixty feet high, the base being twenty-eight feet in 
diameter, and in the upper pait four. It is to be 



1 8 The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 

faced by an antique clock, with an archway under 
the centre cut through the base and wide enough 
for one vehicle. Underneath, beside a drinking 
trough for horses, is a smaller one for dogs. At the 
entrances are cups. 

" Upon the panel of the base is the inscription, 
'The gift of an American citizen, George William 
Childs, of Philadelphia, to the town of Shaks- 
peare, in the Jubilee Year of Queen Victoria.' 
There are to be four mottoes cast. One will be 
from Washington Irving's description of Stratford- 
upon-Avon ; another will be this Shakspearian line 
from Timon, ' Honest water that ne'er left any man 
in the mire.' The remaining two are not yet 
known. They are probably to be selected by Mr. 
Childs. 

*' The design harmonizes well with the principal 
tower of the Shakspearian memorial buildings. The 
site is in the open market-place, near Rother Street, 
midway between the centre of the town and the 
great railway station, and within five minutes' walk 
of Shakspeare's house and the churchyard." 

The Council of Stratford proceeded with the work 
with commendable energy. In its mid-month issue 
of the following June the * Illustrated London News' 
published a sketch of the fountain, accompanied by 



TJie Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 19 

the subjoined interesting description of it, which the 
*■ New York World' pubhshed a fortnight later : — 

" A lofty, spire-like, and highly ornamental drink- 
ing-fountain, with, clock tower, is now being built in 
the Rother Market, Stratford-upon-Avon, at the cost 
of Mr. George W. Childs, of Philadelphia, an Ameri- 
can citizen, who, by this munificent and noble gift 
to the birthplace of Shakspeare, supplies the inhabi- 
tants of the town with what has long been felt to be 
one of its most pressing needs. It will be a durable 
and beautiful memorial of the friendly feeling existing 
between the two nations in this Jubilee Year of our 
Queen. The base of the tower is square on plan, 
with the addition of boldly projecting buttresses 
placed diagonally at the four corners, terminating 
with acutely pointed gablets surmounted by a lion 
bearing the arms of Great Britain alternately with 
the American eagle associated with the Stars and 
Stripes. On the north face is a polished granite 
basin, having the outline of a large segment of a 
circle, into which a stream of water is to flow con- 
stantly from a bronze spout; on the east and west 
sides are large troughs, of the same general outline 
and material, for the use of horses and cattle, and 
beneath these smaller troughs for sheep and dogs. 
On the south side is a door affording admission to 



20 The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 

the interior, flanked by two shallow niches, in one 
of which will be placed a barometer and in the 
other a thermometer, both of the best construction. 
Immediately over the basins and the door are 
moulded pointed arches, springing from dwarf 
columns, with carved capitals. The tympanum of 
each arch is filled by geometric tracery, profusely 
enriched with carvings of foliage. 

" The next story of the tower has on each face a 
triple arcade with moulded pointed trefoiled arches 
on slender shafts. The arches are glazed, and light 
a small chamber, in which the clock is to be placed. 
At the corners are cylindrical turrets, terminating in 
conical spirelets in two stages, the surfaces of the 
cones enriched with scale-like ornament. In the 
next story are the four dials of the clock, under 
crocketed gables, with finials representing ' Puck,' 
* Mustard-seed,' * Peas-blossom,' and * Cobweb.' The 
clock-faces project slightly from a cylindrical tower 
flanked by four other smaller three-quarter attached 
turrets of the same plan ; from the main central 
cylinder springs a spire of a slightly concave 
outline, and the four turrets have similar but much 
smaller spirelets, all five springing from the same 
level, and all terminating in lofty gilded vanes. 
Immediately below the line of springing is a band 



The Stratford-2ipon-Avon Fountain. 2\ 

of panelling formed of narrow trefoiled arches. The 
central spire has on four opposite sides gableted 
spire-lights, and, at about one-third of its height, a 
continuous band of narrow lights to spread the 
sound of the clock bells. The height from the road 
to the top of the vane is sixty feet. The clock will 
be illuminated at night. 

" The materials of which the monument is being 
constructed are of the most durable kind — Peter- 
head granite for the base and troughs, and for the 
superstructure a very hard and durable stone of a 
delicate gray color from Bolton Wood, in Yorkshire." 



THE DEDICATORY POEM. 

Mr. Childs, naturally desiring that the name of an 
American poet should be associated with the dedi- 
cation of the memorial, suggested to Dr. Oliver 
Wendell Holmes, whose sympathies for the great 
master of the English Drama are known to lie 
so broad and deep, that he should write a poem 
appropriate to the occasion. The good and genial 
poet at first stoutly demurred, pleading that his 
muse, like himself, was growing old and delighted 
most in restful, inactive ease by the sea. But, 



22 The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 

being further urged, Dr. Holmes, on the 17th day 
of August, 1887, wrote from Beverly Farms, Massa- 
chusetts, to his old friend in these words : — 

" Dear Mr. Childs : 

" I have written a poem for the celebration of the 
opening of the fountain. 

'' There are nine verses, each of nine lines, as it 
now stands. I mean to revise it carefully, transcribe 
it, and send you the copy in the course of this week. 

" I have taken pains with it and I hope you will 
like it. Please do not take the trouble of replying 
before you get the poem. 

"Always truly yours, 

"O. W. HOLMES." 

Two days later the poem as it appears in the sub- 
sequent accounts of the celebration was received by 
Mr. Childs. Its many classical allusions testify as 
much to the generous culture of the author's mind 
as does the rare beauty of his verse to his poetic 
genius. 

A TRIBUTE TO '' CHILDS AT AVON:' 

In the Brooklyn ' Eagle' there appeared while the 
Fountain was still building, under the caption of 



The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. ' 2^ 

**Childs at Avon," an article as brilliant in manner 
as it was scholarly in matter. The writer, who mod- 
estly hid his identity under the initial H., and of 
whose paper we make this free, brief abstract, said : 
" If no Shakspeare had been born and lived and 
died at Stratford-upon-Avon, I should still remember 
it as one of the most charming spots in Warwick- 
shire. Often when staying at Leamington have I 
set out early on a summer morning and spent my 
day by the banks of Avon and visited the house 
where he was born, including the low ceiling bed- 
room in which he first saw the light when Mary 
Arden brought him into the world in which, after 
his death, he was to be the most mysterious and 
inspired of teachers. Many an hour have I spent in 
the beautiful parish church of Holy Trinity at Strat- 
ford, reading the epitaph upon his gi*ave and feeling 
with a much-sneered-at poet, * Satan' Montgomery, 
whom Macaulay so pitilessly criticised, that I, for 
once, could 

" ' Tread the ground by genius often trod, 
Nor feel a nature more akin to God.' 

" The gift of Mr. George W. Childs, of Phila- 
delphia, of a public drinking fountain in honor of 
Shakspeare, to the town of Stratford-upon-Avon, 



24 The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 

is memorable as being a tribute to the Queen of 
Shakspeare's nation on her jubilee. 

**The first thought that strikes me — for I leave the 
noble benefactions of Mr. Childs for the latter part 
of this article — is how the immortal Shakspeare 
would have stood amazed had he beheld this grand 
water fountain erected to his memory. Although 
he praises water in the words * Honest water that 
ne'er left any man in the mire,' which is to be one of 
the inscriptions on Mr. Childs's memorial drinking 
fountain, the habits of his time were certainly not in 
favor of water as a beverage. There were many in, 
that age, like Sir Walter Raleigh, who abhorred 
drunkenness and denounced it with as much empha- 
sis as King James I. did the tobacco which Raleigh 
extolled with enthusiasm. But it would have taken 
a long journey, I think, to have found a teetotaler in 
England in the days of Shakspeare. * Good Queen 
Bess' drank ale at breakfast. King James rolled 
drunk from his throne. Shakspeare himself was 
thoroughly convivial, though not a drinker to excess. 
He lived like the men of his time, enjoyed his social 
glass of sack or canary with Ben Jonson, or Burbage 
and other authors or actors, and, no doubt, some- 
times woke with a headache next morning. There 
is nothing disrespectful to his memory to say that 



The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 25 

his early death at the age of 52 has been generally 
attributed to the effects of a convivial evening. A 
recent Shakspearian enthusiast, Mrs. Dall, says, in 
her ' Handbook to Shakspeare :' * The pleasant days 
went on for a few weeks. Jonson and Drayton 
came to see Shakspeare, and very likely went to the 
old inn where he had been accustomed to watch the 
antics of a " fool," that he might immortalize him in 
the company of Sly, Naps, Turf, and Pimpernell. 
The hilarity of the party had attracted the attention 
of the villagers, for when, in March, 1 61 6, the poet 
was stricken with fever, the rumor ran that it came 
from too much drinking with his friends.* He died 
on the 23d of April. 

" But if, as I have ventured to suggest, Shakspeare 
would have been amazed at a water fountain erected 
to his memory, he would probably have been still 
more astonished at such poor relations as dogs and 
horses participating with his fellow-citizens in the 
benefit of it. Such is Mr. Childs's arrangement, 
and I think it indicates the true humanity of his 
nature. The dog is the only animal that will for- 
sake his own kind for the sake of man and will die 
upon his master's grave. There are miscreants and 
scoundrels in all races, and the canine is not an 
exception. But there are as many virtuous dogs 



26 The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 

as virtuous men, and from them we may learn 
affection, patience, long-suffering, unselfishness, and 
friendship and fidelity till death. No wonder that 
the poor Indian of Pope's * Essay on Man,' 

" ' Whose soul proud Science never taught to stray 
Far as the solar walk or milky way, 






Yet thinks, admitted to that equal sky, 
His faithful dog shall bear him company.' 

" Let us hope that if the great soul of Shakspeare 
looks down at Queen Victoria's Jubilee on Stratford- 
upon-Avon he will approve of Mr. Childs's munifi- 
cent gift to the corporation of which his family, espe- 
cially his father, John Shakspeare, were ancient and 
honorable members, even though it has embraced 
the thirsty souls of dogs and horses as well as of 
men, women, and children. 

" Of Mr. Childs, whom I have never seen, it is 
impossible for any public-spirited mind of any 
nationality to think too highly. He is not a flatterer 
of English noblemen, but a benefactor, first to his 
own people and then a hospitable host to distin- 
guished foreigners. In fact, Mr. Childs is way ahead 
in wealth and respectability of most of the notables 



The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 27 

to whom he has extended his hospitahty. Begin- 
ning as an errand boy, when he went from Balti- 
more to Philadelphia, in mere childhood, he became 
printer, bookseller, publisher, and newspaper pro- 
prietor, by that resolute virtue of perseverance and 
honesty which overcomes the world, and while some 
may envy his prosperity, no one can dispute that 
he has earned it by a life of integrity and industry 
such as few even in America have equalled. Upon 
the fountain in honor of Shakspeare at Stratford- 
upon-Avon will stand the words, ' The gift of an 
American citizen ;' and this reminds me of the 
words of the late Dean Stanley, when he visited 
this country for the first and only time in 1878, 
referring to Mr. Childs's Memorial Window in his 
abbey to George Herbert and William Cowper: 
'There is in Westminster Abbey a window dear 
to American hearts because erected by an honored 
citizen of Philadelphia.' It might seem strange 
that the gift should be made in the Centennial Year 
of American Independence, but Mr. Childs has the 
right idea of the commonwealth of letters, and 
believes that the great writers of the English tongue 
belong to the Anglo-Saxon and English-speaking 
races, wherever they may be ; and as he did honor 
to George Herbert and William Cowper, so now he 



28 The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 

has done honor to the greater name of Shakspeare, 
who belongs to no country, but is the admiration 
of all civilized races. 

*' Mr. George W. Childs's fountain completes the 
homage which Americans have paid to Shakspeare. 
Years ago, when I talked to an old woman who 
showed me over the house he was born in, she said, 
in answer to a question, that Americans seemed to 
take most interest in it. The case of Miss Delia 
Bacon is most pathetic, although I believe it was not 
her Baconian theory which made her so unhappy. 
She was a woman of singular talent, coming from 
one of the most big-brained families of New Eng- 
land. An early disappointment had made her feel 
the need of an eccentric enthusiasm, and by the 
kind and very unusual permission of the Vicar of 
Stratford she was allowed to pass whole nights in 
the church wherein the bones were laid, which he 
forbade strangers to remove, but not to keep their 
vigils by. Although Miss Bacon was hallucinated, 
her ' Philosophy of Shakspeare's Plays,' introduced 
by Hawthorne, elicited the praise of Ralph Waldo 
Emerson. Her special vagary was that Shakspeare 
had not been Shakspeare and that Francis Bacon 
was the real Shakspeare, and so the idol of her 
mind was destroyed by her own imagination. As 



The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 29 

I said, she was not alone in this ridiculous theory, 
but it is sad to think of the lonely, enthusiastic 
woman worshiping night and day at the shrine of 
a god whom she would end by disbelieving in 
altogether. Yet Samuel Taylor Coleridge was not 
much wiser when he said of Shakspeare, 'Does 
God inspire an idiot ?' 

♦' Mr. Childs's gift and its acceptance by the corpo- 
ration of Stratford set the seal, at any rate, to our 
American belief in the identity as well as the great- 
ness of Shakspeare. His will more than ever be 
the shrine which American travellers, with Wash- 
ington Irving's description of Stratford in their 
^ hands, will visit. It is said that in Virginia, in a 
churchyard sheltered by southern foliage, there is 
a tombstone with the inscription commemorative of 
a man who died in the seventeenth century: 'One 
of the pall-bearers of William Shakspeare.' The 
only relic of the man I have read of is a pair 
of gauntlets possessed by an American, one of 
the most eminent and honored of Shakspearian 
scholars and critics. Dr. Horace Howard Furness, 
of Philadelphia. If it be so, it only confirms the 
fact that the Americans have been his greatest and 
most dispassionate admirers, even if the Germans 
were the first to discern his singular yet universal 



30 The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain, 

genius, and are still the most enthusiastic witnesses 
of his plays. In France, also, M. Taine and other 
great writers, including Victor Hugo, have been 
earnest lovers of Shakspeare; but when English or 
American tragic actors have played his principal 
characters in Paris they have found far less appre- 
ciative audiences than they have in Berlin or 
Frankfort or any other German city. At any rate, 
Mr. Childs has helped to make one picturesque 
little town by a beautiful river in England more 
famous than even Shakspeare's name had made it 
before, and henceforward no one who visits England 
will leave it without spending a few hours, at least, 
in the quiet town of Stratford-upon-Avon." 



THE FOUNTAIN DEDICATED. 

On October 17, 1887, the fountain was dedicated 
with imposing ceremony, an exhaustive report of 
which was published on the following Friday, in the 
Stratford-upon-Avon * Herald,' and which is here 
presented anew from that journal : — 

" All things combined to give eclat to the import- 
ant event of Monday last — the inauguration of the 
handsome fountain given by Mr. Childs, of Phila- 



The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 31 

delphia. It was a happy thought of that prominent 
and respected citizen to arrange that this splendid 
memorial of American admiration for and sympathy 
with England's greatest poet should take place in 
the Jubilee Year of Queen Victoria's reign; and it 
was also a happy idea to secure the greatest of 
English actors to carry out the important function. 
So distinguished an assemblage of gentlemen has 
rarely come together in Stratford-upon-Avon. Art, 
literature, and the drama were well represented, and 
the ceremonial was one of international interest. 
The fountain forms both a welcome and substantial 
benefit to the town, and a graceful addition to its 
many points of natural and historic interest. Strat- 
ford accepted the bequest with a heartiness at once 
agreeable to the giver, and illustrative of the friendly 
feeling of Warwickshire for the people of the great 
Republic of the West. 

** Preparations for the celebration of the event were 
made on Saturday. The scaffolding, which so long 
impeded a full view of the fountain, was removed, 
the final touches were put to the stonework of the 
elegant erection, and a tent was erected in which the 
ceremony was to take place in the event of the 
weather proving unpropitious. Mr. Irving, who per- 
formed the inaugural ceremony, arrived in Stratford 



32 The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 

the previous day, and was the guest of Mr. Charles E. 
Flower, at Avonbank. The distinguished actor only 
finished his Liverpool engagement on Saturday night, 
this being the last place on his provincial tour before 
his departure for America. On Sunday morning he 
travelled to Blisworth, via Rugby, a special train on 
the East and West Junction Railway meeting him at 
the former place. On his arrival at Stratford he 
received a very cordial welcome. A large number of 
people had assembled on the platform and outside the 
building, and, as soon as he emerged from the rail- 
way carriage and was recognized, a very vigorous 
cheer was given. He was met by Mr. Flower, and 
proceeded at once to Avonbank. 

*' Monday morning, as we have said, opened most 
auspiciously. The sun soon dispersed the early 
mist, and at noon, the time fixed for the ceremony, 
there was almost an unclouded sky, and in the 
splendid autumn light the fountain showed itself to 
perfection. The rich light gray stone seemed to 
reflect the sun's rays, and the vane, which caps the 
edifice, shone with great brilliancy. The fountain 
was complete, with one exception — the clock faces 
were there, but not the hands. Sir Arthur Hodgson 
(the Mayor), in accepting Mr. Childs's munificent 
gift, arranged for an inaugural ceremonial befitting 



The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 33 

its international as well as its practical character. 
Sir Arthur issued invitations on a scale of imposing 
hospitality, and the Clopton House was filled with 
a number of distinguished guests. Shortly before 
twelve o'clock a procession was arranged at the 
Town Hall, the local volunteers with their drum- 
and-fife band forming the lead, and followed by the 
Snitterfield brass band. Then came the Mayor, on 
each side of whom walked the Lord High Steward 
(Earl de La Warr) and his Excellency the American 
Minister (Mr. Phelps). Mr. Henry Irving, accom- 
panied by his secretary, Mr. Bram Stoker, came next, 
and then succeeded the Mayors of Leamington, 
Warwick, Coventry, and Lichfield, wearing their gold 
chains of office. The members of the Corporation 
and their officers brought up the rear, those present 
being Aldermen Bird, Cox, Newton, R. Gibbs, E. 
Gibbs, and Colbourne ; Councillors Flower, Cole, 
Eaves, Rogers, Birch, C. Green, Hawkes, L. Greene, 
Maries, Kemp, and Morris. The streets during the 
moving of the procession presented a very animated 
appearance, there being a liberal display of bunting 
throughout the route. Arriving at the site of the 
Memorial, they found assembled a very large con- 
course of persons, all anxious to witness the pro- 
ceedings, and to listen to the eloquence of the great 



34 The Stratford-upon-Avon Foimtain. 

English actor. His address was delivered in the 
silvery tones so familiar to those who have seen 
and heard Mr. Irving on the stage. He was studi- 
ously brief, but what a large amount of feeling and 
meaning his few words contained ! The inaugural 
speech over, the water was turned on, and the fountain 
was dedicated to the public for ever. Cheers fol- 
lowed the announcement, and the formal ceremony 
soon came to an end. Everything had been happily 
done, and the fraternal relations of the two great 
nations which regard the works of Shakspeare as a 
common heritage were thus increasingly cemented. 
There were mutual congratulations ; common praise 
of Mr. Childs's magnificent gift, of the architect's 
skill and taste, of the builder's sound workmanship. 
The whole proceedings were happily conceived and 
successfully carried out. 

THE LOWELL AND WHITTLE R LETTERS. 

"The speeches at the fountain and at the luncheon 
which followed are fully recorded below. 

" The Mayor announced that he had received 
letters explaining inability to attend from the High 
Sheriff, the Lord Lieutenant, Lord and Lady Hert- 
ford, his Excellency the American Minister at Paris, 



The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 35 

the Secretary of Legation of the United States, Sir 
Stafford Northcote, the Dean of Queen's College, 
Oxford, and Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps. His Worship 
afterwards read the following letters from Mr. James 
Russell Lowell and Mr. J. G. Whittier :— 

" ' Dear Sir Arthur Hodgson : 

" ' I should more deeply regret my inability to be 
present at the interesting ceremonial of the 17th 
were it not that my countrymen will be more fitly 
and adequately represented there by our accom- 
plished Minister, Mr. Phelps. 

"■ * The occasion is certainly most interesting. The 
monument which you accept to-day in behalf of 
your townsmen commemorates at once the most 
marvellous of Englishmen and the Jubilee Year of the 
august lady whose name is honored wherever the 
language is spoken of which he was the greatest 
master. No symbol could more aptly serve this 
double purpose than a fountain ; for surely no poet 
ever " poured forth so broad a river of speech" as he 
— whether he was the author of the Novum Organum 
also or not — nor could the purity of her character 
and example be better typified than by the current 
that shall flow forever from the sources opened here 
to-day. 



36 The Stratford-upon-Avo7i Fountain. 

" < It was Washington Irving who first embodied in 
his delightful English the emotion which Stratford- 
upon-Avon awakens in the heart of the pilgrim, and 
especially of the American pilgrim, who visits it. I 
am glad to think that this Memorial should be the 
gift of an American, and thus serve to recall the 
kindred blood of two great nations, joint heirs of the 
same noble language and of the genius that has 
given it a cosmopolitan significance. I am glad of 
it because it is one of the multiplying signs that 
these two nations are beginning to think more and 
more of the things in which they sympathize, less 
and less of those in which they differ. 

"'A common language is not, indeed, the surest 
bond of amity, for this enables each country to un- 
derstand whatever unpleasant thing the other may 
chance to say about it. As I am one of those who be- 
lieve that an honest friendship between England and 
America is a most desirable thing, I trust that we 
shall on both sides think it equally desirable, in our 
intercourse one with another, to make our mother- 
tongue search her coffers round for the polished 
rather than the sharp-cornered epithets she has stored 
there. Let us by all means speak the truth to each 
other, for there is no one else who can speak it to 
either of us with such a fraternal instinct for the 



The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 37 

weak point of the other ; but let us do it in such 
wise as to show that it is the truth we love, and not 
the discomfort we can inflict by means of it. Let 
us say agreeable things to each other and of each 
other whenever we conscientiously can. My friend, 
Mr. Childs, has said one of these agreeable things in 
a very solid and durable way. A common literature 
and a common respect for certain qualities of char- 
acter and ways of thinking supply a neutral ground 
where we may meet in the assurance that we shall 
find something amiable in each other, and from 
being less than kind become more than kin. 

" * In old maps the line which outlined the British 
Possessions in America included the greater part of 
what is now the territory of the United States. The 
possessions of the American in England are laid 
down on no map, yet he holds them of memory and 
imagination by a title such as no conquest ever 
established and no revolution can ever overthrow. 
The dust that is sacred to you is sacred to him. 
The annals which Shakspeare makes walk before us 
in flesh and blood are his no less than yours. These 
are the ties which we recognize, and are glad to re- 
cognize on occasions like this. They will be yearly 
drawn closer as Science goes on with her work of 
abolishing Time and Space, and thus renders more 



38 The Stratford-upon-Avo7i Fountain, 

easy that '* peaceful commerce 'twixt dividable 
shores" which is so potent to clear away whatever 
is exclusive in nationality or savors of barbarism in 
patriotism. 

** * I remain, dear Mr. Mayor, faithfully yours, 

"'J. R. LOWELL.' 

" ' Oak Knoll, Danvers, Mass., 6th Mo., 30th, 1887. 
"^Mr. G. W. Childs. 

" ' Dear Friend : I have just read of thy noble and 
appropriate gift to the birthplace of Shakspeare. It 
was a happy thought to connect it with the Queen's 
Jubilee. It will make for peace between the two 
great kindred nations, and will go far to atone for 
the foolish abuse of England by too many of our 
party orators and papers. As an American, and 
proud of the name, I thank thee for expressing in 
this munificent way the true feeling of our people. 

" ' I am very truly, thy friend, 

"'JOHN G. WHITTIER.' 
A BRIEF HISTORY. 

" The letters having been read, the Mayor then 
said he must say a few words about the history of the 
fountain. It came about in this way. It had origi- 



The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 39 

nally been suggested to Mr. Childs of Philadelphia, 
by an eminent English divine and scholar (the late 
Dean Stanley), that it would be a good and graceful 
thing for an American to do to leave his mark in the 
historic borough wherein Shakspeare was born, and 
lived, and died, and was buried. After the death of 
the Dean nothing more was said of the project until 
Mr. Childs's friend. Dr. Macaulay, wrote to him ex- 
pressing the same idea which had been four years be- 
fore presented to the giver of the Herbert and Cowper 
Window to Westminster Abbey ; but Dr. Macaulay 
urged that the best gift would be a drinking fountain, 
of which Stratfordians stood very much in want. 
All of Mr. Childs's numerous letters respecting the 
fountain, extending over twelve months, evinced a 
spirit of affection for dear old England, and a 
feeling of deep regard for our most gracious 
Queen. Therefore we chose the Jubilee Year for 
the presentation. In all this Mr. Childs has proved 
that blood is stronger than water. Yes, in this 
case blood is stronger than water. Mr. Childs had 
imbued his feelings, English and American — mixed 
them up together, as it were. Then, of course, 
they had to make their arrangements. He did not 
hesitate to say that, if it had not been for Dr. Ma- 
caulay, and the valuable assistance he gave, they 



40 The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 

could not have proved the fountain, as he beHeved 
they intended to do that day, a success. Dr. Ma- 
caulay helped them heartily, and he felt deeply 
grateful for his valuable assistance. Then came the 
question — who should inaugurate the stately Memo- 
rial, and Dr. Macaulay and himself both agreed 
that they could not choose a better man than their 
celebrated English tragedian, Mr. Henry Irving. 
They were not at all sure of securing the valuable 
presence of his Excellency, Mr. Phelps, the Ameri- 
can Minister in this country, and thought it better to 
be sure of their ground. However, he was there, 
and Mr. Irving, and on behalf of the borough of 
Stratford-upon-Avon and the Corporation, of which 
he had the honor to be Mayor, he returned to them 
their most grateful thanks for having come amongst 
them on that auspicious occasion. He knew very 
well that Mr. Phelps had travelled night and day 
from the north of Scotland to be present, not only 
to lend his countenance to the gathering, but to 
indorse the munificent act of his noble country- 
man. It was, again, a great satisfaction to the people 
of Stratford to be able to secure the services of the 
great tragedian, who, they were glad to know, was 
one of the trustees of Shakspeare's Birthplace. 
They thanked Mr. Irving for coming among them, 



The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 41 

and would conclude his remarks by asking Mr. Irving 
to dedicate the noble fountain to the borough of 
Stratford-upon-Avon for ever. 



POET TO POET. 

"Mr. Irving, on stepping forward, was received 
with great cheering. He said he had been requested 
to read a poem which had been dedicated to the 
fountain at Stratford-upon-Avon — a poem written 
by a man who was loved wherever the Eno-lish 
language was spoken." 

Mr. Irving then read the following poem by 
Oliver Wendell Holmes : 

Welcome, thrice welcome, is thy silvery gleam. 

Thou long-imprisoned stream ! 
Welcome the tinkle of thy crystal beads 
As plashing raindrops to the flowery meads, 
As summer's breath to Avon's whispering reeds ! 
From rock-walled channels, drowned in rayless night, 

Leap forth to life and light ; 
Wake from the darkness of thy troubled dream. 
And greet with answering smile the morning's beam ! 

No purer lymph the white-limbed Naiad knows 

Than from thy chalice flows ; 
Not the bright spring of Afric's sunny shores. 
Starry with spangles washed from golden ores. 
Nor glassy stream Blandusia's fountain pours. 



42 The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 

Nor wave translucent where Sabrina fair 

Braids lier loose-flowing hair, 
Nor the swift current, stainless as it rose 
Where chill Arveiron steals from Alpine snows. 

Here shall the traveller stay his weary feet 

To seek thy calm retreat ; 
Here at high noon the brown-armed reaper rest; 
Here, when the shadows, lengthening from the west, 
Call the mute song-bird to his leafy nest, 
Matron and maid shall chat the cares away 

That brooded o'er the day, 
While flocking round them troops of children meet, 
And all the arches ring with laughter sweet. 

Here shall the steed, his patient life who spends 

In toil that never ends, 
Hot from his thirsty tramp o'er hill and plain. 
Plunge his red nostrils, while the torturing rein 
Drops in loose loops beside his floating raane ; 
Nor the poor brute that shares his master's lot 

Find his small needs forgot, — 
Truest of humble, long-enduring friends. 
Whose presence cheers, whose guardian care defends ! 

Here lark and thrush and nightingale shall sip, 

And skimming swallows dip. 
And strange shy wanderers fold their lustrous plumes 
Fragrant from bowers that lent their sweet perfumes 
Where P^estum's rose or Persia's lilac blooms ; 
Plere from his cloud the eagle stoop to drink 

At the full basin's brink, 



The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain, 43 

And whet his beak against its rounded lip, 
His glossy feathers glistening as they drip. 

Here shall the dreaming poet linger long, 

Far from his listening throng, — 
Nor lute nor lyre his trembling hand shall bring; 
Here no frail Muse shall imp her crippled wing. 
No faltering minstrel strain his throat to sing ! 
These hallowed echoes who shall dare to claim 

Whose tuneless voice would shame, 
"Whose jangling chords with jarring notes would wrong 
The nymphs that heard the Swan of Avon's song? 

What visions greet the pilgrim's raptured eyes ! 

_What ghosts made real rise ! 
The dead return, — they breathe, — they live again, 
Joined by the host of Fancy's airy train, 
Fresh from the springs of Shakspeare's quickening brain ! 
The stream that slakes the soul's diviner thirst 

Here found the sunbeams first ; 
Rich with his fame, not less shall memory prize 
The gracious gift that humbler wants supplies. 

O'er the wide waters reached the hand that gave 

To all this bounteous wave, 
With health and strength and joyous beauty fraught ; 
Blest be the generous pledge of friendship, brought 
From the far home of brothers' love, unbought ! 
Long may fair Avon's fountain flow, enrolled 

With storied shrines of old, 
Castalia's spring, Egeria's dewy cave. 
And Horeb's rock the God of Israel clave ! 



44 The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 

Land of our Fathers, ocean makes us two, 

But heart to heart is true ! 
proud is your towering daughter in the West, 
Yet in her burning life-blood reign confest 
Her mother's pulses beating in her breast. 
This holy fount, whose rills from heaven descend, 

Its gracious drops shall lend — 
Both foreheads bathed in that baptismal dew, 
And love make one the old home and the new ! 



THE MEMORIAL ORATOR. 

" Mr. Irving then spoke as follows : * The occasion 
which has drawn us here to-day has an exceptional 
interest and a special significance. We have met 
to celebrate a tribute which has been paid to the 
ipemory of Shakspeare by an American citizen, 
and which is associated with the Jubilee Year of 
our Queen. The donor of this beautiful monument I 
am happy to claim as a personal friend. Mr. George 
W. Childs is not only an admirable specimen of the 
public spirit and enterprising energy of Philadelphia, 
but he is also a man who has endeared himself to a 
very wide circle by many generous deeds. I do not 
wonder at his munificence, for to men like him it is 
a second nature ; but I rejoice in the happy inspira- 
tion which prompted a gift that so worthily repre- 



The Stratford-upo7i-Avoii Fountain. 45 

sents the common homage of two great peoples to 
the most famous man of their common race. We 
are honored to-day by the presence of a distinguished 
American, the poHtical representative of his country 
m England. But it would do far less than justice to 
Mr. Phelps to affirm that he is with us in any formal 
and diplomatic sense. On this spot, of all others, 
Americans cease to be aliens, for here they claim 
our kinship with the great master of English speech. 
It is not for me to say in Mr. Phelps's presence how 
responsive American life and literature are to the in- 
fluence which has done more than the work of any 
other man to mould the thought and character of 
generations. The simplest records of Stratford show 
that this is the Mecca of American pilgrims, and that 
the place which gave birth to Shakspeare is re- 
garded as the fountain of the mightiest and most 
enduring inspiration of our mother tongue. It is 
not difficult to believe that amongst the strangers 
who write those imposing letters U. S. A. in the 
visitors' book in the historic house hard by there 
are some Avhose colloquial speech still preserves 
many phrases which have come down from Shaks- 
peare's time. Some idioms, which are supposed to 
be of American invention, can be traced back 
to Shakspeare. And we can imagine that in the 



46 The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 

audience at the old Globe Theatre there were igno- 
raPxt and unlettered men who treasured up some- 
thing of Shakspeare's imagery and vivid portraiture, 
and carried with them across the ocean thoughts and 
words, " solemn vision and bright silver dream," 
which helped to nurture their transplanted stock. 
For it is above all things as the poet of the people 
that Shakspeare is supreme. He wrote in days 
when literature made no appeal to the multitude. 
Books were for a limited class, but the theatre was 
open to all. How many Englishmen, to whom 
reading was a labor or an impossibility, must have 
drawn from the stage which Shakspeare had en- 
riched some of the most priceless jewels of the 
human mind ! One of the inscriptions on this foun- 
tain is, perhaps, the most expressive tribute to 
Shakspeare which the people's heart can pay: 
" Ten thousand honors and blessings on the bard 
who has gilded the dull realities of life with innocent 
illusions." Those simple words speak a gratitude 
far more eloquent and enduring than whole volumes 
of criticism. It is not only because Shakspeare is 
the delight of scholars, or because he has infinite 
charms for the refined, that he wields the unbroken 
staff of Prospero over the imagination of mankind. 
It is because his spell is woven from the truth and 



The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 47 

simplicity of Nature herself. There lies the heart of 
the mystery. Without an effort the simplest mind 
passes into the realms of Shakspeare's fancy. 
Learned and simple, gentle and humble, all may 
drink from the inexhaustible wisdom of this supreme 
sage. And so it seems to me that no happier em- 
blem of Shakspeare's genius in his native place 
could have been chosen than this Memorial Foun- 
tain. I suppose we shall never be content with 
what litde we know of Shakspeare's personal his- 
tory. Yet we can see him in his home-life here, the 
man of genial manners and persuasive speech, unas- 
suming and serene, and perhaps unconscious that he 
had created in the world of letters as great a marvel 
as his contemporary Galileo's discovery in the world 
of science. And we may conjure other fancies. We 
can picture Shakspeare returning from his bourne 
to find upon the throne a queen who rules with 
gentler sway than the great sovereign that he knew; 
and yet whose reign has glories more beneficent 
than those of Elizabeth. We can try to imagine 
his emotion when he finds "this dear England" he 
loved so well expanded beyond the seas ; and we 
can at least be happy in the thought that when he 
had mastered the lessons of the conflict which 
divided us from our kinsmen in America, he would 



48 The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain, 

be proud to see in Stratford the gift of a distin- 
guished American citizen — this memorial of our 
re-union under the shadow of his undying name.' 



OUR CENTENNIAL GUEST. 

" In response to a call from the Mayor, Sir Philip 
Cunliffe Owen, who was originally associated with 
the British Commission of the Centennial Exhibition 
of 1876, in Philadelphia, said that, as an old personal 
friend of Mr. Childs, he was gratified at being per- 
mitted to say a few words on that interesting occasion, 
and to express the gratitude of a large number of 
English people who had received Mr. Childs's hos- 
pitality. That hospitality was well known in that 
*■ City of Brotherly Love' — Philadelphia — and Mr. 
Childs was beloved both over there and in this 
country. He was very pleased indeed that he 
should have been allowed in the name of those who 
loved Mr. Childs — as all who had met him in 
America did — to join with the orator who had just 
charmed them by his eloquence in expressing their 
gratitude for that noble gift. 



The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 49 



TO THE MEMOR V OF SHAKSPEARE. 

" The water was then turned on, and, filling a cup, 
Mr. Irving drank * To the Immortal Memory of 
Shakspeare,' while the Mayor announced to the 
company that the water had been pronounced by 
authority to be clear, palatable, and good. The 
band in the mean time played the National Anthem 
and ' Hail, Columbia,' while hearty cheers were 
afterwards given for the Queen, for the President of 
the United States, for the American Minister (Mr. 
Phelps), for Mr. Childs, the munificent donor of the 
fountain, for the Mayor and Lady Hodgson, and for 
Mr. Irving. This part of the proceedings then ter- 
minated. 



THE MAYOR'S GUESTS. 

"At one o'clock the Mayor entertained a large and 
distinguished company at luncheon in the upper 
room of the Town Hall. The guests of his Worship 
included the American Minister (Mr. Phelps), Earl 
De La Warr (High Steward of the Borough), Mr. 
Henry Irving, Mr. C. E. Flower, Mrs. C. E. Flower, 

4 



50 The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 

Lord Ronald Gower, Lady Hodgson, the Hon. Mr. 
Hewitt, Miss Hodgson, Dr. Macaulay, Mrs. Ma- 
caulay, Mr. Macaulay, Jr., Sir Theodore Martin, K. C. 
B., Sir Philip Cunliffe Owen, Mr. F. Townsend, M. P., 
Mrs. Townsend, Rev. G. Arbuthnot, Mr. Walter 
(proprietor of the ' Times'), Mrs. Walter, Councillor 
Archer, Mr. T. Adkins, Rev. F. H. Annesley, Mrs. 
Annesley, Mrs. Arbuthnot, Alderman Bird, Coun- 
cillor Birch, the Borough Surveyor (Mr. A., T. 
Davies), the Borough Chamberlain (Mr. A. M. Cox), 
Mr. R. Bridgman (the contractor), Mr. G. Boyden, 
Rev. W. Barnard, Mrs. Barnard, Mr. T. Brookes, Mr. 

E. S. Broadfield, Mr. W. Burns, Councillor Cole, 
Councillor Canning, Mr. J. A. Cossins, Mrs. Cossins, 
the Mayor of Coventry, Miss Carleton, Miss Alice 
Carleton, Mr. C. Caffin, Mr. F. Crawford, Mr. J. H. 
Caseley, the Deputy-Mayor (Alderman Colbourne), 
Councillor Eaves, Mr. Edgar Flower, Mrs. Edgar 
Flower, Mr. A. D. Flower, Miss Flower, Col. Feilden, 
Alderman E. Gibbs, Alderman R. Gibbs, Councillor 
C. Green, Councillor L. Greene, Mr. C. R. Garnet, Mr. 

F. Gibbs, Mr. D. S. Gregg, Mrs. Gregg, Councillor 
Hawkes, Councillor Hutchings, Mr. F. Hawley, Mr. 
J. Henson, Mr. W. Izod, Mr. J. C. Jones, Mrs. Cove 
Jones, Councillor Kemp, Mr. Kinnear, Rev. R. S. 
de C. Laffan, Mrs. Laffan, Lady Laffan, Mayor of 



The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountai?t. 51 

Leamington (Mr. S. T. Wackrill), Capt. Lupton, Mr. 
C. Lowndes, the Mayor of Lichfield, Mr. H. S. Love- 
day, Councillor H. Maries, Councillor T. Morris, Mr. 
Charles E. Martin, Mrs. Martin, Miss Minet, Mr. S. 
H. Mountford, Mr. F. A. Mountford, Alderman 
Newton, Mr. J. J. Nason, Mrs. Nason, Mr. T. W. 
Norbury, the Priest Chaplain (the Rev. F. Smith), 
Mrs. Porter, Mr. E. Pritchard, C. E., Mrs. Pomeroy, 
Mr. Pemberton, Councillor Rogers, Mr. Richardson, 
Mr. S. Sanders, Mrs. Sanders, Mrs. F. Smith, Mr. R. 
Savage, Mr. Bram Stoker, Mr. Clement Scott, the 
Town Clerk (Mr. T. Hunt), Mr. S. Timmins, Mr. 
Yates Thompson, Mrs. Yates Thompson, Councillor 
Whiteman, the Mayor of Warwick, Mr. J. E. Wil- 
cox, Mr. J. C. Parkinson, Mr. F. Marshall, Mr. J. C. 
Warden, and Mr. H. White, of the American Lega- 
tion, London. 



THE TOASTS, 

" The Mayor, in giving the toast of ' The Queen,' 
said it was one which, in this ancient, loyal, and 
historic borough, was always well received. This 
year Stratford had done its best to honor the 
Jubilee. By a happy coincidence, the foundation 



52 The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 

stone of the handsome fountain they had inaugu- 
rated that morning was laid on Jubilee Day by the 
Mayoress. They all felt that the Queen sat en- 
throned in the hearts of her subjects. He thought 
they might truly say that she was the most constitu- 
tional Sovereign who had ever reigned over them. 
Throughout her long and glorious reign we had had 
a government of the people by the people for the 
people. Of Victoria it might be said, as by Cranmer 
(in ' Henry VIII.') of another Queen, * She shall be to 
the happiness of England an aged princess. Many 
days shall see her, yet not a day without a deed to 
crown it.' 

" The toast was received with hearty cheers, after 
which the Mayor proposed ' The Prince and Princess 
of Wales and the rest of the Royal Family,' which 
met with an equally cordial reception. 

"Earl De La Warr said he had great pleasure in pro- 
posing the next toast, ' The President of the United 
States.' They had that day witnessed a ceremony 
which had excited the liveliest interest of all who 
had the pleasure of being present. The function at 
which they had assisted that morning was more 
than a mere ceremony ; it was an indication of the 
sympathy existing between England and America. 
He thought he was speaking the sentiments of the 



J 



The Stratford-tip 071- Avon Foimtain, 53 

nation as well as of the borough when he said that 
they viewed that auspicious occasion, not only as a 
proof of the great interest which was felt in America 
in the memory of the immortal poet, but also as 
drawing more closely the bonds of unity and friendly 
feeling between the United States and this country. 
" The toast was very cordially received. 



THE ADDRESS OF THE AMERICAN MINISTER. 

''His Excellency the American Minister, Mr. 
Phelps, who experienced a hearty greeting, said, in 
response : — 

'"It is certainly a very grateful duty to respond to 
a sentiment honored by Americans everywhere and 
under all circumstances, which has been proposed in 
such felicitous terms by Lord De La Warr, and 
received so cordially by you all. And for the kind 
allusions to myself which I have heard to-day and 
for your more than kind reception, I can only offer 
you my thanks and my wish that they were better 
deserved. The manner in which the name of the 
President of the United States is always received 
when it is brought forward in an English company, 
and the kindness which everywhere is made to sur- 



54 The Stratford-upon-Avon Foimtain. 

round the path of his representative in this country, 
are exceedingly gratifying, because they are the ex- 
pression, and the more significant because they are 
often the spontaneous expression, of the cordial, 
friendly feeling which animates the heart of the peo- 
ple of this country towards their kinsmen across that 
sea which used to divide but which now unites 
them. The relations between these two countries are 
not the property of themselves alone ; they are the 
property of the civilized world. It would be a 
calamity too great to be anticipated, and which I 
trust may never be realized, to all the civilized world 
if these relations were to be severed. But it is to be 
borne in mind that they depend far less upon 
governments and public men than upon the spirit 
which animates the people on either side, Mr. 
Irving happily remarked this morning that I was 
not here in a diplomatic capacity. Diplomacy, that 
black art as it used to be known in the world, and I 
hope has ceased to be known, has very little place 
among; the straightforward Saxon race. It cannot 
be too strongly borne in mind, I think, that it is on 
the cultivation of a friendly spirit on both sides that 
our cordial relations depend. So far as I have 
observed, people do not quarrel unless they desire it. 
When they are hostile, provocation is not far to 



The Stratford-tipon-Avon Fountain. 55 

seek ; when they are friendly, there are very few 
provocations that will not somehow be patched up 
and adjusted. It is in the intercourse so admirably 
depicted in the letter of my predecessor, Mr. Lowell, 
by which the people of the two countries come to 
know each other and understand and appreciate 
each other, to partake of each other's hospitality, to 
enjoy with each other the amenities of social, per- 
sonal, individual life, that the spirit arises that will 
always make these people friends. And it may be 
usefully remembered by those philanthropists and 
humanitarians who are anxious to preserve the 
peace of the world, that it is much better maintained 
by justice and kindness in the treatment of each 
other internationally than it is by obtaining paper 
promises that injustice and unkindness shall not be 
resented. Such promises are either worthless or 
needless. They are needless while nations are 
friendly ; they are worthless while nations are hos- 
tile. It is one of the amenities to which I have 
alluded that brings us together here to-day. I must 
say a word, before I sit down, about the gift of my 
warm-hearted and distinguished countryman which 
has been inaugurated this morning. I should rather 
mar what you have already heard if I were to at- 
tempt to add much to what has been said, and so well 



56 The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 

said, by the Mayor, Mr. Irving, and Mr. Lowell. It 
seems to me that in every possible way all the 
proprieties and all the unities have attended it. It 
seems to be a graceful offering, modest, unobtrusive, 
unheralded, accepted in the spirit in which it is 
given. I wish Mr. Childs might have been present 
here to-day. I wish he might have observed for 
himself the spirit in which his gift was received. It 
is appropriately erected on the place where the 
memory of Shakspeare has extinguished all other 
memories, a place to which Americans, by the 
pilgrimage of successive generations, have established 
a title as tenants in common with Englishmen by 
right of possession — one of those possessions de- 
scribed by Mr. Lowell, not laid down on the map, 
but of which the title is just as strong as if it were 
marked by geographical boundaries. I have some- 
times thought that there is no bond of union be- 
tween Americans and Englishmen that is stronger 
than that of a common literature ; I mean the litera- 
ture that pervades and influences the general intelli- 
gence of the country ; the literature that was so 
ably portrayed by Mr. Irving this morning in his 
observations on the character of Shakspeare's writ- 
ings ; a literature which is not the property of a class, 
but for all mankind and for all time ; and therefore 



The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 57 

this birthplace of Shakspeare, where almost all the 
memorials which remain to him are gradually being 
gathered together, here, if anywhere in England, is 
the appropriate place for a permanent gift from an 
American. It is appropriate also in the time of 
offering, the Jubilee Year of your Sovereign— the 
Jubilee of which I was a most interested spectator 
m all its progress from beginning to end. And 
the impression which it made upon me was that 
its success and its distinction did not arise from 
its pageantry or its ceremonies or the distinguished 
concourse which attended it from afar. It has been 
in the manifestation of that deep and universal 
loyalty of this people towards their Queen and 
their Government. That, as it appears to me, is 
the lesson, the significance, the glory, and the suc- 
cess of the Jubilee. The loyalty of Americans is to 
their own Government ; they appreciate the loyalty 
of your people to yours, and they understand and 
feel, I am sure, through the whole length and 
breadth of that country, what was so well expressed 
by the Mayor when he said that the throne of the 
Queen is in the hearts of her people. And therefore 
a gift which, though it comes from one citizen only in 
America, which u ill be applauded by thousands, and to 
which thousands would have gladly contributed if it 



58 The Stratford-upon-Avon Fomitain. 

had been requisite, may well come in the year when 
you are celebrating an event so rare in the history of 
nations. The gift, too, in its inauguration has been 
fortunate in the ceremonies that attended it. It is 
fortunate that it should have been inaugurated in an 
address so fitting and so elegant by a gentleman 
who interprets Shakspeare to both the nations in 
whom we claim a share and always shall, whom we 
always welcome heartily, and always unwillingly let 
go. I cannot wish him a speedy return, in justice to 
my countrymen, in the voyage he is about to under- 
take. I hope he may have a safe and happy one. 
I hope that, when the curtain falls in America upon 
some representation of the great Master which 
has entranced a theatre crowded with the best intelli- 
gence of my countrymen, and when the call not 
unfamiliar to his ear compels him to say something 
for himself, he will tell them what he has seen and 
heard to-day. He may be too modest to tell them 
how much he has contributed to it ; but, I hope, he 
will tell them something of the manner and the 
spirit in which the gift to his country was received, 
and I am sure it will not make his welcome the less 
cordial. Long may this fountain stand, sir, and flow, 
an emblem, a monument, a landmark — not the only 
one by many, I hope — of the permanent, intimate. 



The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 59 

cordial friendship of piy countrymen and yours ! 
May many generations of Englishmen and Ameri- 
cans drink together of its waters ! May many a 
schoolboy, creeping unwillingly to school, or rushing 
joyously away from it, when he pauses to slake his 
thirst at its current, take in with the water a kindly 
thought of his kinsmen beyond the sea — kinsmen 
who have so much in common, whose history, whose 
religion, whose literature, whose language are all in 
common, and who are to share in common hereafter, 
beyond all and above all, in that limitless American 
future which opens its magnificent doors free and 
*wide to you and your children as well as to ours !' 

A MESSAGE EROM THE QUEEN. 

" At the conclusion of the address of the American 
Minister, which was received with the most enthusias- 
tic manifestation of good-will, the Mayor announced, 
amid great cheering, that he had just received a 
telegram from her Majesty. It was as follows : — 

•" The Queen is much gratified by the kind and 
loyal expressions contained in your telegram, and is 
pleased to hear of the handsome gift from Mr. Childs 
to Stratford-upon-Avon. 

"'(Signed) HENRY PONSONBY.' 



6o The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 

" It may be stated that a few minutes earlier the 
Mayor had wired : — 

" ' To Sir Henry Ponsonby, Bahnoral Castle. 

" * The toast of her Majesty's health most enthusi- 
astically received on the occasion of the inauguration 
of the drinking fountain by Mr. Childs, a distin- 
guished citizen of Philadelphia. 

" « (Signed) ARTHUR HODGSON, Mayor of Stratford.' 



TO THE MEMORY OF THE POET. 

" Sir Theodore Martin, K. C. B., submitted < The 
Immortal Memory of Shakspeare.' In what words, 
he asked, should he present to such an assembly 
and on such an occasion such a toast ? Words- 
worth spoke and most folk knew something of the 
thoughts '■ that do often lie too deep for tears ;' but 
a toast to the immortal memory of Shakspeare 
awakened thoughts which indeed lay far too deep 
for words. What language, however copious, how- 
ever eloquent, was adequate to express what they as 
individuals, what the whole civilized world, owed to 
him who was 'not of an age, but for all time.* 
With a prodigality and a genius for which literature 
furnished no parallel, he poured forth play after 



The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 6i 

play in which his poetic pen turned to shape and 
his imagination inspired with warm breathing hfe, 
and presented, under aspects and conditions as 
diversified as Hfe itself, a multitude of ideal beings 
who yet were human to the core. Boundless 
treasures of thought and of imagination, the most 
exquisite charms of expression and of poetic beauty, 
illumined his pages; and even were they to throw 
out of account his poems and his sonnets, priceless 
as these were, some three or four of his plays would, 
alone, suffice to make a transcendent reputation. 
But when they passed in review the whole thirty- 
seven which the care of his brother actors had pre- 
served for us, what must they think ? He said the 
care of his brother actors, and not his own, and this 
should ever be remembered, for among the many 
marvels that surround the name of Shakspeare, not 
the least marvel of all, perhaps, was the apparent 
absence of all precaution on his part that the 
masterpieces of his genius should not be lost or 
fall into obHvion. But a gift so priceless, so divine, 
was not to be lost to mankind. The seeds of im- 
mortality were there from the first. He obtained 
a strong hold upon the best minds of his time. 
Steadily and surely his fame expanded with the 
widening culture of his countrymen, and as time 



62 The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 

rolled on, other lands, one by one, came to feel that 
in grasp and development of human character, in 
constructive skill, in breaks of genial humor, in 
intellectual force and wealth, Shakspeare towered 
alone. His fame and influence were now as wide 
as the civilized world, and the eyes of the nations 
turned with gratitude and reverence to the spot 
where first he saw the light, and to which he re- 
turned in the mellow and modest evening of his 
days. England had many memories to be proud of, 
but of none of her sons might she be prouder than of 
Shakspeare. What he now asked them to do 
would be done in many a land from time to time 
through many ages yet to come — ay ! was it, even, 
too much to say until ' this great globe itself, and all 
that it inhabit, shall dissolve'? — he asked them now 
to drink with him to the immortal memory of 
Shakspeare. 

" The toast was drunk in reverent silence. 



THE TRIBUTE OF THE PRESS. 

" Mr. Walter, the proprietor of the London 'Times,' 
proposed the next toast, which he said might truly 
be described as the toast of the day, the health of 



The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 63 

the honored donor of the gift which they had as- 
sembled to inaugurate. He had no claim whatever 
to be selected for so high an honor as that of pro- 
posing Mr. Childs's health, except from the cir- 
cumstance that he had had the privilege of being 
intimately acquainted with Mr. Childs for more 
than twenty years, and that he and his family had, 
when visiting the United States, received unbounded 
proofs of his hospitality and affectionate feeling 
towards them, which had always made him (Mr. 
Walter) feel when within the States as a free citizen 
of that community. Only those who had had the 
good fortune to know America intimately could 
form any adequate idea of the feelings of veneration 
and attachment which most educated Americans 
entertained towards this country, and especially to 
those localities which were identified with noble, 
historic, and other glorious associations. And of 
all the counties of England, the county of Warwick, 
perhaps, from the historic associations connected 
with such places as Kenilworth, Warwick, and above 
all Stratford-upon-Avon, appealed most to the hearts 
of Americans, to make them feel that they were of 
one kindred and one race with ourselves. Some- 
times, indeed, it had happened that the feeling had 
manifested itself in a somewhat extraordinary and 



64 TJie Stratford-upon-AvoJi Fountain. 

not altogether acceptable manner. He remembered 
one instance of this which brought to his mind the 
feeling which Henry V. expressed towards Catherine 
when he said that he loved France so well that he 
would keep it all to himself. About thirty years ago 
— it might be more; it was when he was a young man 
— it occurred to an enterprising American that there 
was not sufficient feeling in Stratford-upon-Avon to- 
wards the memory of her immortal poet, and that 
it would be far better for the good, at all events of 
America, if the Americans put in practice the art for 
which they were known to be so eminently distin- 
guished — the art of transplanting houses. It actu- 
ally occurred to an enterprising dweller in the States 
to purchase and remove to America Shakspeare's 
house. Whether or not this was intended as a scare 
to compel that which was afterwards done — the pur- 
chase and the public guardianship of that wonderful 
treasure — it was not for him to say, but the impres- 
sion it made on his mind was perfectly fresh, and he 
had no doubt it was familiar to most Americans. It 
had produced beneficial results to them in making 
them more highly and more thoroughly appreciate 
the honor of being the custodians of Shakspeare's 
house. 



The Stratford-upo7i-Avo7i Fountain. 65 



A PORTRAIT OF MR. CHILD S. 

"With regard to Mr. Childs himself he must 
say a few words, though, as the American Minister 
had said, that was a subject on which there was 
Httle more to say. Mr. Childs was probably per- 
sonally unknown to most of those now present. He 

was a man with a very remarkable history one of 

those examples of self-made men of which the Ameri- 
can soil seemed to be prolific; men who, by an early 
career of great industry, energy, shrewdness, and per- 
severance, acquired large fortunes and employed them 
for the public good. Mr. Childs began life in a very 
humble capacity, making what few dollars he could 
in the best way he could find to his hand. He be- 
came a publisher, and amassed in that business a 
considerable sum. But he was an instance of a man' 
who, like the Mayor, instinctively obeyed the wise 
teaching of their great poet by remembering that 
' there is a tide in the affairs of men which taken at 
the flood leads on to fortune.' He took his chance at 
the flood, and became the purchaser of the Public 
Ledger, which he had made a most lucrative and 
highly honorable paper, and upon that he had built a 
fortune which had enabled him to perform those acts 



66 The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 

of public and private generosity and unbounded hos- 
pitality to all Englishmen who had the good fortune 
to be introduced to his acquaintance, and of which 
the occasion of their present gathering was one of 
the most conspicuous examples. The other day, in 
reading a book which Mr. Childs gave him many 
years ago — a remarkable book, by an American — 
he came across a passage which seemed to him sin- 
gularly appropriate to the present occasion, which 
he hoped would be sufficient excuse for his quoting 
a couple of stanzas from it. The poet was apostro- 
phizing Shakspeare, and said : — 

' Deep in the West, as Independence moves, 
His banners planting round the land he loves, 
Where Nature sleeps in Eden's infant grace, 
In Time's full hour shall spring a glorious race. 
Thy name, thy verse, thy language shall they bear, 
And deck for thee the vaulted temple there ! 

' Our Roman-hearted fathers broke 
Thy parent empire's galling yoke ; 
But thou, harmonious master of the mind. 
Around their sons a gentler chain shalt bind ! 
Once more in thee shall Albion's sceptre wave. 
And what her Monarch lost her Monarch-bard shall save !' 



The Stratford-upon-Avon Foiintam. 67 



THE GIVER OF THE FOUNTAIN. 

" One word to give some idea of Mr. Childs. At 
the present moment it was about a quarter past nine 
by Philadelphia time, and Mr. Childs was sitting at 
his breakfast — a piece of dry bread and a cup of milk 
— and wondering what sort of a day it was going to 
be in England, and how the most interesting cere- 
mony at Stratford w^as about to pass off, and possibly 
even thinking in what terms his own health might be 
proposed. The news would probably have reached 
him before he had drunk his last cup of milk. Now, 
if he had to describe the character of Mr. Childs in 
a single word, he should do so in a word which was 
impressed upon his mind by very early associations, 
and which the Mayor would forgive him for men- 
tioning on the present occasion. Fifty-eight years 
ago he knew a little boy at school, with rosy cheeks, 
genial, beaming countenance, and such delightful 
qualities of civility, good-humor, and readiness to 
oblige, that his schoolfellows applied to him the epi- 
thet of 'trump.' Most schoolboy epithets were not 
complimentary, and he had never known of the appli- 
cation of that particular epithet to any other boy than 
that one, whom he remembered as Trump Hodgson. 



6S The Stratford-upon-Avon Foimtain. 

He had developed, in the course of his interesting 
history, into the Worshipful Mayor of Stratford- 
upon-Avon. The Mayor would excuse him for men- 
tioning the circumstance, and not think he was guilty 
of wishing to infringe upon his monopoly of the 
title, but if he had to apply one epithet rather than 
another to Mr. Childs he should say he was a trump. 
He was a man of guileless habits, unselfish disposi- 
tion, a readiness to do good in any way, and who 
could not possibly do an ill turn to any one. They 
were all indebted to Mr. Childs for having performed 
an act which would help to impress upon their minds 
more than anything else the duty they owed to 
preserve the memory of their immortal bard always 
fresh in their minds. He ardently wished the rising 
generation could be persuaded to read more and more 
of Shakspeare and less of the trash which they daily 
devoured. He commended to them the health of 
their distinguished absent friend, Mr. Childs, and 
asked them, not only to drink to his present health, 
but also to wish him a long continuance of prosperity 
and happiness. 

" The toast was drunk amid loud applause. 



The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 6g 



THE VOICE OF AN OLD FRIEND. 

" Dr. Macaulay, who, as an old friend of Mr. Childs, 
was asked to reply in his behalf, said he had been 
told by many persons that this gift of Mr. Childs to 
Stratford was creating an impression in America per- 
haps even beyond the value of the gift. And why? 
For the same reason as in England, that it was re- 
garded as a pledge of the good feeling between the 
two nations. At the present time there was a very 
unusual deputation in America — many members of 
Parliament, with others — having an interview with 
the President of the United States, trying to get from 
him a contract that there should be no more war 
between the two nations, and that every question in 
dispute should be submitted to arbitration. But Mr. 
Phelps had very wisely told them contracts were of 
no avail unless they were supported by public opin- 
ion, and he (Dr. Macaulay) was sure that nothing 
would do more to create the desired state of public 
opinion than this generous act of Mr. Childs. It 
was a happy thought, this gift to the town of Shaks- 
peare in the Jubilee Year of Queen Victoria, and he 
believed it would strengthen public opinion and make 
any diplomatic arrangement the more easy by mak- 



70 The Stratford-upon-Avon Foimtain. 

ing the two peoples feel that they had a common 
origin, a common feeling, and a common sympathy 
in all things, and when England and America were 
joined there was good hope for the security of the 
freedom and progress of the civilized world. 



HENR V IR VI NG. 

" Mr. C. E. Flower said he was sure that the Mayor 
had allotted to him a most pleasing as well as a most 
honorable duty in asking him to propose the health 
of their friend, Mr. Henry Irving. That morning 
they asked Mr. Irving to turn on the water ; now 
he asked the company to turn on the wine in his 
honor. All in that room, everybody in Stratford, 
were delighted to welcome Mr. Irving. They were 
very grateful to him for having spared the time from 
his arduous duties and busy life to pay them a visit, 
and to take the part which he had so admirably ful- 
filled in the ceremony of that day. While they were 
pleased to welcome Mr. Irving, he thought he might 
also presume to say that he must be also pleased to 
come among them — pleased to have the honor of 
representing an old and valued American friend, and 
not the least gratified because that duty had brought 



The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. yi 

him to the old town of Stratford. Mr. Irving, as 
most of them knew, had already some association 
and connection with Stratford. He had been h'om 
the first one of the governors of the Shakspeare 
Memorial Association, and only in the present year 
the trustees of the poet's birthplace had had the 
pleasure of electing him as one of their number. 
They had, in fact, endeavored to tie him to Strat- 
ford by bonds which, they hoped, he would not find 
irksome. While asking them to drink the health of 
Mr. Irving as an individual taking an important and 
responsible part in that day's ceremony, he was sure 
Mr. Irving would allow him to say that they also 
desired to drink his health as representing the pro- 
fession of which he was so distinguished a member. 
There were many actors and actresses, living and 
passed away, who were held affectionately in the 
memory of Stratfordians, and he wished to propose 
the health of Mr. Irving who represented a profes- 
sion which had done much of late years not only to 
enliven but to enlighten our social life. He there- 
fore asked the company to drink the health of Mr. 
Irving, recognizing the great and honorable part he 
had played so well that day, remembering his asso- 
ciations with Stratford and its Shakspearian institu- 



72 The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 

tions, and greeting him as actor, gentleman, and 
friend. 

" The toast was drunk with loud cheers. 



AN AMBASSADOR TO MR. CHILD S. 

" Mr. Irving, who, on rising to respond, was greeted 
with cheers again and again renewed, said : * I thank 
you most heartily for your most kind welcome, and 
I reciprocate with all my heart your wishes that I 
may soon come to Stratford again, and may have 
the privilege of meeting many of the genial friends 
I have met here to-day. An actor can crave 
no higher distinction than that of being promi- 
nently associated with some public work in connec- 
tion with Shakspeare's memory in Shakspeare's na- 
tive town. It is the lasting honor of the actor's 
calling that the poet of all time was a player, and 
that he achieved immortality by writing for the 
stage. Of all the eloquent tributes which have 
been paid to Shakspeare one ever recalls the words 
of his fellows-actors, to whose loving care we owe 
the first edition of his works, and who tell us that 
" as he was a happy imitator of Nature, he was a 
most gentle expresser of it." All we can desire in 



The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 73 

the artistic embodiment of life this '* most gentle 
expresser of Nature" has given us. I would like to 
quote a few words on this subject which seem to me 
to embrace a very great deal — a few words written 
by your Excellency's famous countryman Emerson, 
in which he pays Shakspeare a tribute which it 
would be very difficult to excel. He says: "We 
can discern, by his ample pictures of the gentleman 
and the king, what forms and humanities pleased 
him ; his delight in troops of friends, in large hospi- 
tality, in cheerful giving. Let Timon, let Warwick, 
let Antonio the merchant answer for his great heart. 
So far from Shakspeare being the least known, he is 
the one person in all modern history known to us. 
What point of morals, of manners, of economy, of 
philosophy, of religion, of taste, of the conduct of 
life, has he not settled ? What mystery has he not 
signified his knowledge of? What offices, or func- 
tions, or district of man's work has he not remem- 
bered ? What king has he not taught state, as Talma 
taught Napoleon? What maiden has not found him 
finer than her delicacy? What lover has he not out- 
loved? What sage has he not outseen? What gen- 
tleman has he not instructed in the rudeness of his 
behavior ?" These are things which the actor treas- 
ures to the full as dearly as the student, and the 



74 The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 

actor's art to-day comes much nearer Shakspeare's 
estimate of its importance in the intellectual life of 
the community than in the times when the corpora- 
tion of Stratford refused to permit the performance 
of Shakspeare's plays. I don't intend that reminder 
to touch any tender spot in your municipal pride 
now, for the players were not treated with con- 
tumely in Stratford at all, and perhaps it was the 
influence of Shakspeare's memory which induced 
the corporation on one occasion to pay them the 
handsome sum of forty shillings to keep away. But 
times are better now, and I am quite sure that when 
a troop of Lyceum players come to Stratford they 
will settle down under the wing of the Worshipful 
Mayor. In a few days I shall sail for the great 
country where any worthy representation of Shaks- 
peare on the stage commands as staunch support 
from the public as in our own, and I cannot help 
thanking Mr. Phelps for his most genial words, 
which represent the more than cordial — I may say 
affectionate — welcome which we have always re- 
ceived from his countrymen. I shall act as your 
ambassador to Mr. Childs, and I hope that in the 
course of the next fortnight I may convey to him 
your enthusiastic appreciation of his generous gift. 
I shall remember, Mr. Walter, your kind wishes and 



The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 75 

the affectionate tribute you have paid him, and I 
shall be the happy person to convey, I hope, to him 
my impressions of to-day. The ceremonial of to- 
day must have given the greatest pleasure to all, for 
it has renewed our hallowed associations with the 
mighty dead, and it has reminded two great nations 
of a bond which no calamity can dissolve. And, 
believe me, I am sure it will make every English- 
speaking actor in the world prouder than ever of 
the calling which I have the privilege of represent- 
ing here to-day.' 



A WORTHY CITIZEN. 

" Mr. Samuel Timmins proposed the health of 
*The Mayor.' Happily it was a text which re- 
quired no sermon ; and even what he might have 
said had been already anticipated in the interesting 
and admirable speech of Mr. Walter, referring to 
the school-boy days of his Worship. He really felt 
that there was nothing for him to add. So far as his 
memory served, Shakspeare was never very re- 
spectful to mayors, and he was certainly very dis- 
respectful to town clerks on more than one occasion ; 
but he was sure that, if Shakspeare were alive now, 



'j^ The Stratford-up 071- Avon Fountain. 

and had witnessed that day's ceremonies, he would 
have joined very heartily in drinking the toast which 
he had the honor to propose. He knew something 
of the history of the Mayor, and he had rarely met 
with a more remarkable example of industry, kind- 
ness, and generosity, leading to a high and honored 
place. The Mayor was entitled to the compliment 
of the toast, not only because of his share in the 
day's proceedings, but also because of his services 
to the town. Unlike Shakspeare, he had not the 
honor of being born in Stratford. That, of course, 
he could not help, and he was quite sure he re- 
gretted it, but he had made the best atonement in 
his power by coming to live in the neighborhood, 
and taking an active and successful part in the 
affairs of the town. In this he had followed Shaks- 
peare's example. He was not aware that the 
Mayor had written a tragedy, or perpetrated a poem, 
or scribbled a sonnet ; but he had certainly followed 
Shakspeare's example in a direction which it was 
/r difficult to understand nowadays, that after a 
highly successful and honorable career he had come 
down to a quiet little country but historic town and 
taken his lot and part in its good government and 
true advancement. Shakspeare did this, and the 
Mayor had done it, and that his services were appre- 



The Stratford-upon-Avon Foiintaifi. 77 

dated was shown by the fact that he had been for 
four years the Mayor of the borough. Sir Arthur 
Hodgson was respected by his fellow-citizens, 
honored by all ; and they had special reason to 
drink his health that day because he had been a 
very active and energetic supporter of the admirable 
proposal of Dr. Macaulay, through the generous 
donor, Mr. Childs, that a drinking fountain should 
be erected in this town. For many years he had 
known the Mayor personally, as one of the trustees 
of the Birthplace, and he had always been struck 
with his ability, courtesy, and kindness. They de- 
sired to thank Sir Arthur for his generous, his 
princely — he would rather say, Mayoral — hospitality. 
Further, he had conducted the whole proceedings of 
that day with admirable taste and skill. He was 
sure the Mayor deserved that they should heartily 
drink the toast as a worthy citizen of whom Strat- 
ford, and even Shakspeare, might be proud. 
" The company then separated. 



MR. CHILDS'S THANKS TO SIR ARTHUR HODGSON. 

" The Mayor, in the course of the afternoon, re- 
ceived the following telegram from the donor of the 
fountain : — 



78 TJie Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 

" ' Philadelphia. 
*'' To Sir Arthur Hodgson : 

" You have my warmest thanks for the enh'ght- 
ened attention you gave to everything relating to 
the Shakspeare Fountain, and its successful dedi- 
cation, which is a personal courtesy superadded to 
the official duty so well performed, and which it was 
certainly very gracious in you to bestow. 

« ' GEORGE W. CHILDS.' 



TO A FRIEND BEYOND THE SEA. 

" The following poem, written by Mrs. R. S. de C. 
Laffan on the opening of the fountain, was read by 
Mr. Henry Irving to the company assembled at 
Avon Bank on the eve of the ceremony : — 

' Brothers yet — though ocean sever 

Your free land that fronts the west 
From the churchyard by the river, 
Where our common fathers rest : 

' Brothers — by the twin rills flowing 

From one fount of English speech, 
By the common mem'ries glowing 
Deep within the heart of each : 



The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 79 

* It is yours, as it is ours, 

This most favored spot of earth, 
Where the springtime crowned with flowers 
Gave our gentle Shakspeare birth. 

* Here, where every stone reminds us 

Of the name that each reveres, 
Symbol of the love that binds us, 

Changeless through the changing years, 

* Rear the fountain : let the chiming 

Of its peal of silver bells 
Thrill like some sweet singer's rhyming 
Every heart in Avon's dells. 

' Let its waters, softly plashing. 

Woo the weary and the worn, 
Brightly through the gloaming flashing. 
Brightly through the summer morn. 

' So the wanderer onward pressing, 
Thii'sty, way-worn, weak of knee, 
Halting here shall drink a blessing 
To a Friend beyond the Sea.' " 



• THE LONDON TIMES' S REPORT. 

The London * Times,' on the day following Oc- 
tober 18, published an account of the dedication 
ceremonies, including the poem of Dr. Holmes, the 
addresses and letters above given, filling four of its 



8o The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 

broad, long columns, which it prefaced as follows 
under the caption of *'Shakspeare and America:" — 
" For all English-speaking people there is a pecu- 
liar and almost romantic charm about the town in 
which the opening and closing scenes in the life of 
Shakspeare were enacted. So inseparably, indeed, 
are most of the scanty personal records of the poet 
associated with Stratford-upon-Avon that the place 
itself has long since been invested with a character 
not far removed from that attaching to the shrine of 
a saint in the Middle Ages. Thousands of pilgrims 
annually resort to the quaint little midland town to 
examine with an interest akin to reverence the relics 
it contains, to look on scenes which must have been 
familiar to the poet, and to stand on the ground for 
ever sacred to his name and memory. Since the 
days of Washington Irving, American faces have 
been as numerous in Stratford as those of English 
people, and a handsome Memorial Window in the 
church where Shakspeare's dust reposes bears testi- 
mony to American appreciation of the poet and his 
work. Another evidence of transatlantic veneration 
for the memory of Shakspeare was seen yesterday at 
Stratford. This time the Memorial has assumed the 
form of a public drinking fountain and clock tower, 
which an American citizen, Mr. George W. Childs, 



The Stratford-itpon-Avoii Fountain. 8i 

of Philadelphia, has presented to the town. The 
ceremony connected with the dedication of this 
new monument was one which can hardly fail to be 
of general and almost world-wide interest. The 
representative company which had assembled to wit- 
ness the event, together with the international char- 
acter of the gift itself, conspired to lend a more than 
ordinary importance to the proceedings on this 
occasion. Yesterday was warm and sunny, and 
nothing more appropriate than the bright October 
weather could have been desired for the performance 
of such a ceremonial. There are few English towns 
more prettily situated than Stratford-upon-Avon, 
and at this season of the year the charm is height- 
ened by the beauty of the foliage. The flush of 
autumn still lingers on the valley of the Avon, and 
the views to be obtained from the old bridge and 
from the parish church are rendered more pic- 
turesque than ever by the mellow tints upon the 
landscape. 

•' The memorial has been erected in what is known 
as Rother Street, a broad, open space near the centre 
of the town, where several thoroughfares converge. 
It is here that the annual ' mops' or statute fairs 
take place, and the spot is admirably adapted for 
6 



82 The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 

the site of the memorial. The structure is a hand- 
some and imposing one. 

" The ceremony of inaugurating the fountain was 
performed yesterday at noon by Mr. Henry Irving, 
in the presence of the Mayor of Stratford-upon-Avon 
(Sir Arthur Hodgson, K. C. M. G.), the Corporation, 
and a very numerous assemblage of visitors and 
townspeople. Among others present were Lord De 
La Warr, Mr. Phelps, the American Minister, Lord 
Ronald Gower, Sir Theodore Martin, Sir P. Cunliffe 
Owen, Mr. John Walter, Dr. Macaulay, Mr. J. C. 
Parkinson, Mr. Frank Marshall, and the Mayors of 
Lichfield, Coventry, Warwick, and Leamington. In 
the main streets of Stratford the Union Jack and the 
Stars and Stripes were conspicuously displayed, and 
the town wore an air of festivity and gayety through- 
out the day. 

" At noon the Mayor and Corporation arrived in 
procession at the memorial." 



THE LONDON ' DAILY TELEGRAPH'S' REPORT. 

On the same day the London * Daily Telegraph' 
published an account of the celebration as extended 



The Stratford-iip oil- Avon Fountain. 83 

as that of the ' Times,' with the following introduc- 
tion : — 

" Stratford-upon-Avon — supremely lovely at all 
times ; hallowed with its immortal memor>^ of 
Shakspeare ; consecrated to literary men and all 
lovers of the stage by anniversaries, and jubilees, 
and kindly ceremonies without number — was never 
lovelier than on the sunny October morning when, 
i?inder the happy auspices of sunshine and good-fel- 
lowship, the leading actor of England dedicated, 
inaugurated, and consecrated the gift of an Ameri- 
can citizen to the home and the birthplace of the 
poet of all time. All the hospitable houses in the 
neighborhood were full of distinguished guests. The 
genial and popular Mayor, Sir Arthur Hodgson, had 
invited his Excellency the American Minister, who 
appeared not in any diplomatic capacity, but as the 
mouthpiece and representative of his fellow-country- 
man, Mr. George W. Childs, of Philadelphia, whose 
handsome present of a drinking fountain now stands 
unveiled and flowing with fresh water in the old 
Rother Market, and Sir Theodore Martin, who was 
selected to propose in his own graceful and felicitous 
manner the solemn toast of the * Immortal Memory 
of Shakspeare.' Dr. Macaulay, who suggested the 
happy thought of the drinking fountain to his friend, 



84 The Stratford-2ipon-Avon Fountain. 

Mr. Childs, as well as Mr. Henry Irving, who was 
the hero of the hour and cheered whenever he was 
seen in Stratford, was hospitably entertained by Mr. 
Charles Flower, of Avonbank, who, with his brother, 
Mr. Edear Flower, has done so much and worked 
so indefatigably and loyally in the cause of Shaks- 
pearian tradition, thinking, rightly and enthusiasti- 
cally as they do, that Shakspeare's memory is a 
solemn legacy to the townsfolk of Stratford-upon- 
Avon. On this occasion Mr. Irving necessarily paid 
a flying visit to the good old town, which recognizes 
him as something more than a casual friend since 
he has been recently elected one of the trustees of 
Shakspeare's birthplace in Henley Street. As Mr. 
Irving was acting in Liverpool on Saturday, and has 
to sail for America on Thursday, his visit Avas neces- 
sarily brief, but his welcome none the less cordial and 
enthusiastic. Sunday was a glorious day — a little 
chilly, perhaps, in the teeth of the wind — but a 
bright sun lit up the glorious autumnal foliage, 
a.id the chance visitor to the good old town was 
continually running up against some one of note 
who has identified himself with Shakspearian litera- 
ture, or has shown his personal enthusiasm for the 
place of Shakspeare's birdi and death. In the 
beautiful old collegiate church, already in a fair 



i 



The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 85 

way of restoration and free from its hideous and 
disfiguring galleries, that popular and enthusiastic 
Freemason, Mr. J. C. Parkinson, who some years 
ago rescued the archives of Stratford Masonry from 
destruction, and, having re-established the Stratford- 
upon-Avon lodge of Masons in the neighborhood 
of London, caused an entablature to be placed under 
the Freemason's window in the chancel, close by 
Shakspeare's grave, might have been seen looking 
after the interests of his craft, who hold Shakspeare's 
memory in such veneration. At Anne Hathaway's 
cottage, among the Michaelmas daisies and orange 
marigolds, Mr. Frank Marshall, the co-editor with 
Mr. Irving of the promised beautiful edition of 
Shakspearian acting plays, might have been found 
admiring the old settle and examining the fine-spun 
linen of the Hathaway family on the Shakspeare 
bed. Hovering about the Shakspeare house was 
the indefatigable Mr. Samuel Timmins, of Birming- 
ham, an enthusiastic Shakspearian scholar ; whilst it 
was impossible to take a walk that lovely day to- 
wards Charlecote or Clopton without meeting some 
one who has made some sort of name in literature 
or art. 

** And then, of course, there was the imposing new 
fountain, the immediate object of attention to the 



S6 The Stratford-upon-Avon Foitntaiii. 

countless pilgrims, the beautiful and costly gift of 
Mr. Childs ; the monument all pinnacles and stone 
tracery, the handsome combination of drinking- 
trough and clock-tower that stood uncovered in 
the bright October sunshine, attracting innume- 
rable visitors to admire its proportions, to discuss 
its style of architecture, and to read the Shakspeare 
texts engraved on every available panel. 



ON A VON'S BANK. 

" Monday broke over Stratford even warmer, sun- 
nier, and more genial than the day before, and at a 
very early hour the visitors scattered about in 
various directions. The greater part naturally be- 
took themselves to the Shakspeare Memorial Build- 
ings, on the Avon bank, already mellowing down 
with age, and containing the fruit of the anxious and 
devoted labors of the Flower family and their friends. 
The handsome and insulated theatre, standing at 
the lovely bend of the silent river close to the old 
church, is now supplemented by a library and a pic- 
ture gallery of ample proportions, and additions to 
both are earnestly asked by those who have by de- 
grees made the old town one of the show-places of 



The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. Zj 

England, and directed thither the footsteps of count- 
less American pilgrims, who recite Washington 
Irving in the cosy parlors of the celebrated Red 
Horse, and quote Shakspeare in the busy market- 
place or the quiet churchyard. There was clearly 
much to be done before midday arrived, the hour 
fixed for dedicating Mr. Childs's fountain to the use 
and benefit of Shakspeare's native home. No one, 
for instance, could neglect to pay a visit to the old 
house in Henley Street, which Mr. Walter, in the 
course of the day, pleasantly reminded us was, once 
upon a time, threatened with annihilation by an 
enterprising American, who proposed to carry it 
bodily away and transplant it on the other side of 
the Atlantic. The old custodian's bell at the Shaks- 
peare House was constantly set ringing, and those 
charming and courteous ladies, the Miss Chattaways, 
were continually repeating the well-known lecture in 
the same pleasant and cheerful terms. 

'' Shortly before mid-day a procession was formed 
at the Town Hall, headed by Sir Arthur Hodgson, 
K. C. M. G., the Mayor of Stratford, who was pre- 
ceded by the beadle and macebearers of the an- 
cient corporation, and followed by the Mayors of 
Worcester, Lichfield, Coventry, Warwick, Leam- 
ington, the Earl De La Warr, Mr. Phelps, the Ameri- 



88 The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 

can Minister, Sir Theodore Martin, Sir Philip Cun- 
Hffe Owen, Lord Ronald Gower, Mr. Henry Irving, 
Mr. J. C. Parkinson, Dr. Macaulay, Mr. Timmins, 
Mr. Walter, of Bearwood, the vicar of Stratford, the 
Rev. de Courcy Laffan, and the ministers of every re- 
ligious denomination in the town. There was only 
one sad disappointment. The worthy Mayor had 
received a letter from Mr. James Russell Lowell re- 
gretting his inability to be present, and the letter of 
apology was so eloquent that he did not hesitate to 
read it to the assembled people at the commence- 
ment of the ceremony." 

Succeeding this was a report of the imposing cere- 
mony, the poem, letters and addresses, and on the 
editorial page of the ' Telegraph ' there appeared the 
accompanying striking leading article, the style of 
which will readily be recognized as that of the great 
Oriental scholar and poet whose genius has borne 
from the Englishmen's far East to all English-speak- 
ing peoples the poetry of those elder races of men 
who spoke in strange tongues with reverent lov^e of 
all that was beautiful and tender in their religious 
faith. Through that sublime poem, ' The Light of 
Asia,' Sir Edwin Arnold has given to the peoples of 
a later civilization and creeds a poetic epitome of 
those ancient beliefs which foreran all modern ones. 



The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 89 



SIR EDWIN ARNOLD'S TRIBUTE. 

" To commemorate, or to celebrate, or in any way 
seek to magnify," said the learned and brilliant editor 
of the * Daily Telegraph,' ''the great name of Shaks- 
peare is in a certain sense, of course, impossible. He 
is one of the very few among the immortals of our 
race who live beyond praise. The language which 
he enriched with deathless creations, and which his 
works rendered adequate to the majesty of this 
Empire, is a perpetual memorial of him. The land 
of which he was the glory and ornament is, in its 
length and breadth, his monument. He has passed 
beyond criticisms, to be studied, revered, cherished, 
and wondered at, as an inexhaustible source of de- 
light, instruction, and deep lessons of humanity. The 
better qualified any person is to judge of master- 
pieces in literature ; the more he may happen to 
know of the grandest works of Greek and Latin, of 
Oriental or mediaeval writings, or of the finest 
achievements in our own tongue, the completer will 
be the pleasure with which he turns back again to 
the magic pages of Shakspeare or follows the track 
of his all-powerful genius in a well-acted representa- 
tion. He cannot be exhausted, resembling in this 



90 The Stratfoi^d-upon-Avon Fountain. 

respect the sublimest production of Nature herself. 
Admirers of his genius are perpetually endeavoring 
to glean something novel about his life and char- 
acter; but we shall probably never know very much 
more about these than his own lordly carelessness 
has deigned to reveal. If even we did know more, 
it would not be elucidatory of the ultimate inspira- 
tions of so marvellous a man. All the folly talked 
about the mythical existence of William Shakspeare, 
of a cryptograph lurking in his sonnets and plays 
which indicates Lord Bacon or somebody else as 
their author, may be dismissed as rubbish. To any 
mind at all competent to arbitrate, the signet of an 
ineffaceable and intensely individual genius is visibly 
stamped upon every line of his work — nay, the 
very words are too felicitous to imagine altered. It 
is enough that we possess the simple facts which 
assure us of the general current and career of his 
life ; that we know about his father, the woolstapler ; 
of his birth in the little sacred street-house at Strat- 
ford-upon-Avon ; of his love for Anne Hathaway, 
and his suit in the county court about a four-post 
bedstead ; of his doings at the Globe, his lively 
ways, the look of his countenance, and the place of 
his interment. How it was that he understood 
everything without learning, and could think forth 



The Stratford-upon-Avon Foimtain. 91 

from every man's and woman's heart with its own 
feehngs ; how he could be — as he is — more majestic 
than an Emperor, more delicate than a maiden, 
wiser than a sage, courtlier than a noble, tenderer 
than any lover, and prouder than any conqueror, is 
a mystery which human wit cannot solve. It suf- 
fices that he was given to this realm, our immortal 
pride and heritage ; that in one age and from one 
brain his single faculty established our common 
language as for ever classical and consecrated. It 
is Shakspeare who celebrates and commemorates 
England, not Englishmen Shakspeare ; but he also 
belongs to all English-speaking people, and in such 
a spirit the ceremony of yesterday took place at 
Stratford-upon-Avon, and had its true and very 
significant interest. 



A HAPPY EMBLEM. 

"The handsome fountain and clock-tower just 
erected in Shakspeare's town, and inaugurated by 
Mr. Henry Irving, are the gift of an American 
citizen, Mr. George W. Ghilds, of Philadelphia, well 
known already in his own country for an enlight- 
ened mind and munificent deeds. Such a tribute to 



92 The Stratford-iipon-Avort Fountain. 

the memory of the greatest of EngHsh poets is one 
that can be heartily hailed, and for which, in this 
Jubilee Year of our Queen, there was place and pro- 
priety. Equally appropriate it was that the dedica- 
tion of this graceful gift to the town of Stratford 
should have been made by the first among living 
interpreters of the text of Shakspeare upon the 
stage. No actor would dispute this title with the 
accomplished and scholarly gentleman who has 
done so much to revive popular delight in the 
works of the Chief of Dramatists, and by this and 
other examples has so notably elevated the status of 
his profession. In the excellent speech which Mr. 
Irving delivered at the foot of the ' Jubilee Memorial,' 
he touched the central point of the ceremony at once 
by remarking that in that spot, of all spots, Ameri- 
cans and Englishmen ceased to be other than fel- 
low-countrymen. We might, indeed, almost call 
Stratford-upon-Avon the joint capital of the British 
England and of the American England, as the 
Greeks looked upon Delphi as the true centre of 
the habitable globe. American life and literature, 
as Mr. Irving remarked, are as much stamped with 
the influence of the Bard of Avon as are our own ; 
and it is at once the most satisfactory and the 
most natural thing in the world that half the names 



The Stratford-npo7i-Avofi Fountain. 93 

of the visitors inscribed in the book kept at 
the 'historic cottage' should have after them 

* those imposing letters, U. S. A.' We rejoice to 
think that every American beyond the Atlantic 
longs to visit the birthplace of Shakspeare, and 
almost every one who comes over to our shores 
goes thither first of all if he can. They are quite 
right. Shakspeare belongs to them as much as to 
us, and the fountain of Mr. Childs is an impressive 
and acceptable way of emphasizing their sense of 
property in the memorable name. Nor was Mr. 
Irving otherwise than happily inspired in praising the 
character of the gift to the little town. It is simple, 
natural, homely, and for universal use — is a fountain 
— like the genius of the poet. As he remarked, 

* Learned and unlearned, gentle and humble, may 
all alike drink from it ; and so it seems to me,' 
said the speaker, * that no happier emblem of 
Shakspeare's work in his native place could have 
been chosen.' Possibly we English might have 
been a little jealous if Mr. Childs had proposed to 
erect by the silver Avon a colossal statue, or a 
prodigious pyramid, or something which would 
have made British devotion look small ; but the 
fountain and clock-tower are as becoming as they 
are significant of the feelings so delightfully con- 



94 The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 

veyed in the letter of Mr. James Russell Lowell. 
' I am glad to think,' he wrote, * that this memo- 
rial should be the gift of an American, and thus 
serve to recall the kindred blood of the two great 
nations, joint heirs of the same noble language and 
of the genius that has given it a cosmopolitan 
significance. I am glad of it, because it is one of 
the multiplying signs that those two nations are 
beginning to think more and more of the things in 
which they sympathize, less and less of those in 
which they differ.' 



A PEACE-OFFERING. 

"Thus, then, even from his ashes our great 
Englishman renders us all a splendid new service, 
drawing closer together those portions of the 
English-speaking race which must never again be 
enemies. The key-note which had been so well 
and justly struck by Mr. Irving and taken up by 
Mr. James Russell Lowell was harmoniously utilized 
by the American Minister, who in a most genial 
and friendly speech said a great many happy and 
handsome things about our Queen, our country, 
and the relations between Englishmen and Ameri- 



The Stratford-iip 071- Avon Fountain. 95 

cans. Mr. Phelps did, indeed, actually charge Mr. 
Henry Irving with a regular diplomatic mission, for 
he bade the universally popular actor not to lose an 
opportunity, the next time he was called upon for a 
speech before the curtain in the States, of relating 
what had been said and done at Stratford-upon- 
Avon in the inauguration of the Childs Memorial. 
' I am sure,' said the American Minister, ' it will 
not make his welcome less cordial ; and long may 
this fountain stand and flow, an emblem, a monu- 
ment, a landmark — not the only one by many, I 
trust — of the permanent, enduring, hearty, cordial 
friendship between my countrymen and yours! May 
many generations of Englishmen and Americans 
drink together of its waters !' After this deliberate 
choice of Mr. Irving as an ambassador of good-will 
between the two great nations, we ought almost to 
call him < His Excellency' for the future. More- 
over, that nothing might be wanting to grace the 
interesting occasion, her Majesty despatched a gra- 
cious telegram, saying with what pleasure she had 
heard of the sentiments prevailing at the gathering, 
and how glad she was to know of the handsome gift 
made to Shakspearians by Mr. Childs. The gene- 
rous donor himself was not able to be present, but 
the tidings which will reach him cannot fail to con- 



96 The Stratford-Mpon-Avon Foimtain. 

vey the conviction that he has done a useful as well 
as an enlightened and amicable act in thus estab- 
lishing a monument of American loyalty to our 
poet on the soil of his birth and death. Nothing 
but good all round can result from so perfectly well- 
conceived a ceremony ; nor could any words more 
fitly express this than those with which Mr. Irving 
closed his speech of thanks, observing : ' To-day's 
ceremonial has given infinite pleasure to all, for it 
has renewed our hallowed associations with the 
mighty dead, and it has reminded two great nations 
of a bond which no calamity can dissolve. And, 
believe me^ it will make every actor in the world- 
wide sphere of Shakspeare's influence prouder 
than ever of the calling which I have the privilege 
of representing here.' " 



OTHER BRITISH PRESS VIEWS. 

In its issue of October 22 the London * Graphic,' 
the illustrated rival of the ' News,' published a full- 
page drawing of the fountain taken during the cele- 
bration, in which were presented the attending mul- 
titude of participants, the portraits of many of them 
being given, together with an admirable likeness of 



The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 97 

Mr. Childs. An extended description of the cele- 
bration accompanied this interesting sketch. 

The London 'Globe' of the 1 8th of October con- 
tained the following introduction to an attractive 
account of the dedicatory ceremonies : — 

"There was general rejoicing at Stratford-upon- 
Avon yesterday, the occasion being the inauguration 
of a splendid drinking fountain, which has been pre- 
sented to the town as a Jubilee Memorial of the 
Queen's reign by Mr. George W. Childs, of Phila- 
delphia, the donor of the American Window in 
Westminster Abbey to the genius of Herbert and 
Cowper. The ancient borough accepted the gift with 
enthusiasm, and the Mayor and corporation issued 
invitations to one hundred guests. The Ameri- 
can Minister (Mr. Phelps), Sir Philip Cunliffe Owen, 
Lord Ronald Gower, and Mr. John Walter were the 
guests of the Mayor, Sir Arthur Hodgson ; Sir P. 
Cunliffe Owen, and Mr. Walter, proprietor of the 
* Times,' being personal friends of Mr. Childs. Mr. 
Henry Irving, who had accepted the task of making 
the dedication, was among the distinguished guests. 
The early trains brought the Lord Lieutenant of 
Warwickshire and the Mayors of the surrounding 
towns. The weather was beautifully fine, and the 
town was decorated ,with bunting. At half-past 
7 



98 TJie Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 

eleven o'clock the Mayor and the members of the 
corporation met at the Town Hall, and shortly 
before noon marched in procession to the site of the 
memorial, accompanied by Mr. Irving and the 
numerous representatives of literature, art, and the 
drama who had been invited. Mr. Irving, in mak- 
ing the dedication, spoke of Mr. Childs as not only 
an admirable representative of the public spirit and 
enterprising energy of Philadelphia, but also as a 
man who had endeared himself to a very wide circle 
by many generous deeds. A letter was read from 
Mr. James Russell Low^ell, and Sir P. Cunliffe Owen 
spoke as a friend of Mr. Childs. 

"A telegram was received from the Queen, in 
which Her Majesty stated that she was much 
gratified by the kind and loyal expressions con- 
veyed, and was pleased to hear of the handsome 
gift by Mr. Childs to Stratford-upon-Avon. Great 
cheering acknowledged the receipt of this telegram. 
Mr. Phelps's speech, in which he spoke of the loyal 
feeling towards the Queen entertained by Ameri- 
cans, was also received with loud cheers." 

APPRECIA TION. 

The thorough and genuine appreciation of Mr. 
Childs's gift by the English* people is thus finely 



The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 99 

expressed by the Warwick ' Advertiser,' a journal 
of influence published near to the home of Shaks- 
peare. 

" The opening of the Childs Memorial Fountain 
at Stratford-upon-Avon was an event of inter- 
national importance. The spirit in which the gift 
was proffered and received will tend to cement the 
bond which unites us with our kinsmen beyond 
the sea in that great Republic of the West, which 
has such boundless possibilities in store for the 
Anglo-Saxon race." 

The London ' Standard,' in a very full account of 
the celebration, said : — 

'' Mr. Irving inaugurated the monument, and had 
at his side several persons familiar to the pubHc 
eye. During the proceedings a graceful message 
was received from the Queen, and from Mr. James 
Russell Lowell a letter was read congratulating Eng- 
land and America on the ever-growing sympathy of 
feeling and unity of opinion and sentiment between 
them. There is no more attractive place in the 
world than Stratford-upon-Avon for those who pos- 
sess in any degree the 'mind's eye' spoken of by 
the Poet who has made it famous for all time. The 
little Warwickshire town is very pleasing in itself, 
even to the outward gaze, being kept scrupulously 



100 The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 

clean, and neat, and comely by its denizens, who 
seem to be conscious of the privilege and responsi- 
bility they inherit by living there. Even for mere 
natural beauty of the quiet, smiling, and unsensa- 
tionally charming order, few bits of scenery can 
surpass the short reach of the river that lies between 
lock and lock, at the upper end of which stands 
the Church, with its solemn cincture of graves and 
green girdle of trees, in which rest Shakspeare's 
* honored bones.' There is an air of tranquil self- 
respect about Stratford-upon-Avon, as though the 
place were aware of its own dignity. Its outskirts 
are equally attractive and sanctified by vague but 
assured memories. What is more English than the 
path through the meadows along the river side, 
where now and then an otter disports himself? — and 
nowhere in the world is there a homelier, more 
dreamy, and more suggestive spot than Anne Hath- 
away's Cottage. There is no fear of Stratford-upon- 
Avon being forgotten, or of the birthplace and 
burial-place of Shakspeare losing its magic. The 
fear rather is that it should draw to itself too many 
pilgrims, as, indeed, even now it occasionally does. 
Every year is a Jubilee Year as far as Shakspeare's 
memory and fame are concerned, and nothing more 
can be done to extend his glory or to extol his 



The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. loi 

genius. His is the one genius, in post-classical 
literature, that is beyond challenge, and provokes 
no controversy. In genius — that is to say, in depth, 
height, breadth, and variety of imagination, con- 
ception, and execution — he stands alone. All other 
writers, compared with him, belong to the second 
class. All men together can add nothing to, and 
take nothing away from, his reputation. It is well 
that Stratford-upon-Avon should have its Fountain 
and its Clock ; and it is well, again, that they should 
be given by one of our and his kindred across the 
Atlantic. But they serve to shed no fresh light 
and no fresh lustre on the greatest of all names in 
the glorious Roll of Letters." 

To the foregoing was added, in a leading editorial 
article : — 

"All Englishmen will echo the friendly and just 
language of the American Minister, who was pres- 
ent, and of Mr. James Russell Lowell, to whose 
letter we have referred. Indeed, an Englishman 
must be hopelessly insular who can think of a citizen 
of the United States as a stranger, much more as a 
foreigner ; and an American must be deeply affected 
with spread-eagleism who looks on England as other 
than his parent country. It is interesting to note 
the exceeding eagerness of all refined and thought- 



I02 The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 

ful Americans to strengthen the intellectual and 
historical link that already unites the two peoples 
on the two sides of the ocean. Our brethren on the 
other side of the sea have produced numbers of 
writers, and two or three poets whose charm all 
the world has recognized. But they have not pro- 
duced — and they never are likely to produce — a 
Shakspeare. Theirs the future may possibly be, 
but the past is unquestionably ours. They are 
welcome to share it with us, and we could be glad 
to have a share in their future." 



THE 'FALL MALL: 

In the issue of October i8, the London 'Pall 
Mall Gazette' published a very effective pictorial 
sketch of the fountain, accompanied by the following 
report of the ceremonies : — 

" The handsome clock tower and fountain which 
Mr. Childs, of Philadelphia, has presented to the 
town of Stratford-upon-Avon, were inaugurated 
to-day by Mr. Henry Irving. It is fitting that a 
memorial to the greatest English dramatic poet 
should be inaugurated by that poet's greatest 
living interpreter on the stage. Mr. Irving is, more- 



The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountaiii. 103 

over, a personal friend of the donor, Mr. Childs, 
to whom in a few days he will carry the enthusiastic 
thanks of the town for his generous gift. Mr. 
Phelps, the American Minister, and Mr. James Rus- 
sell Lowell have accepted invitations to the cere- 
mony, and will speak at the banquet given by the 
Mayor. 

" Mr. Irving arrived at Stratford by special train 
from London last night, and was most enthusiasti- 
cally cheered on entering the town. Early trains 
this morning brought the Mayors of several sur- 
rounding towns. Mr. Childs is in America, but 
he was represented by Dr. Macaulay, of 'The 
Leisure Hour,' and Sir Philip Cunliffe Owen. The 
weather was delightfully fine, and the town bore 
quite a gay appearance. At half-past eleven the 
Mayor and corporation went to the Town Hall, 
whence they proceeded to the memorial. Art, lite- 
rature, and the drama were fully represented. Mr. 
Irving eulogized Mr. Childs as being not only an 
admirable representative of the public spirit and 
enterprise of Philadelphia, but also as a man who 
had endeared himself to a very wide circle by many 
generous deeds. A letter was read from Mr. James 
Russell Lowell in which he said he was glad to find 
that the people of the two countries were thinking 



I04 TJie St7^afford-2ipon-Avo7t Fountain. 

more of the things in which they agreed than of 
those in which they disagreed." 

The editorial comment of the ' Gazette' was as fol- 
lows : — 

'' It is not often that an inauguration goes off with 
such unclouded eclat as yesterday's function at Strat- 
ford-upon-Avon. The day was of October's best, and 
the ceremony was one of unique interest — the open- 
ing, namely, by the first actor in England, of the 
drinking fountain and clock tower which have just 
been erected in the Rother Market as a tribute by 
an American citizen to the genius of Shakspeare and 
to the virtues of Queen Victoria. Mr. Childs makes 
the Jubilee Year the occasion of his gift. We gave 
yesterday a sketch of the fountain, which does great 
credit to the architect, Mr. Cossins, of Birmingham, 
and should bring him into notice for work of this 
description. But it was perhaps not so much either 
the fountain, or its cost, or even the international 
character of the gift, which collected from all parts 
of England the distinguished company which as- 
sembled yesterday in the Rother Market. Few Eng- 
lishmen have travelled in America who have not, like 
Sir Philip C. Owen, Mr. Walter, and Dr. Macaulay, 
been acquainted with Mr. Childs and enjoyed his 
sumptuous hospitality. He has been to them a sort of 



The Stratford-tip 071- Avon Fountain. 105 

British proxenos in Philadelphia, and it was a desire 
to testify their gratitude and friendship for a very 
lovable man which brought many to Stratford yes- 
terday. There was, moreover, a certain appropriate- 
ness in the selection at the subsequent lunch of Mr. 
Walter, the owner of the London 'Times,' to propose 
the health of Mr. Childs, the owner of the Philadel- 
phia Ledger. In their respective cities those two 
papers represent, and have now for many years repre- 
sented in a remarkable degree, the sober traditions 
and stereotyped proprieties of long-established jour- 
nalism. But if the * Times' represents what is sober 
and solid, the Ledger is the very essence of so- 
briety and solidity. It has never yet condescended 
to attract readers by the exhibition of posters ; no 
map or plan, still less any portrait or engraving, has 
ever variegated the uniformity of its pages. Indeed, 
many people go so far as to say that the thousands 
of persons who peruse the Ledger read it from pure 
affection and regard for Mr. Childs. One of its 
most distinctive peculiarities is that it never says 
an ill word of any one, not even of a mother-in-law. 
But perhaps the real secret of Mr. Childs's popu- 
larity is not so much his abstinence from ill words 
as the abundance of his good deeds. The Stratford 
fountain is one of many public benefactions, but his 



io6 The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 

public benefactions, as any one acquainted with Phila- 
delphia will bear witness, are far outnumbered by a 
multitude of acts of private charity and kindness of 
which the public never hears at all. *I intend,' said 
Mr. Childs to a friend on last New Year's day, ' to 
be kinder this year than ever I was before ;' and the 
saying and the fact that he said it are very character- 
istic of Mr. Childs. 

" It is, therefore, a subject of congratulation to no 
small circle of friends that the inauguration of the 
fountain went off so brilliantly. The Mayor, Sir Ar- 
thur Hodgson, K. C. M. G., looked and spoke the 
part worthily of a Mayor of Stratford. Mr. Irving, 
standing in 'the granite trough from which endless 
generations of Warwickshire horses will quench their 
thirst, pronounced a speech of such grace and lite- 
rary refinement as was only equalled by his own 
graceful and refined appearance. He read, too. Dr. 
Oliver Wendell Holmes's verses with a beauty of 
utterance which would have forced the enthusiastic 
little doctor himself to join in the vociferous applause 
produced by the production of his own pen. Of Mr. 
Phelps it is enough to say that he spoke as well as 
Mr. Lowell himself could possibly have done; of 
Sir Theodore Martin, that he was eloquent and 
sonorous. As Mr. Lowell was not able to be 



The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 107 

present, he sent a letter, which was read by Sir 
Arthur Hodgson. 

<' Perhaps, however, of all said and written, the 
sentence that will last longest is one of those selected 
by Dr. Macaulay and engraved on the fountain, 
which, for appropriateness, was never surpassed and 
deserves to appear on other fountains : * Honest 
water, which ne'er left man i' the mire.' ('Timon 
of Athens,' act i, scene 2.) A bottle filled with this 
'honest water,' and carefully sealed up, was deliv- 
ered to Mr. Irving, and will be duly conveyed by 
him to America next Thursday for presentation to 
Mr. Childs in Philadelphia." 



THE CROWNING EVENT OF THE JUBILEE YEAR. 

In its issue of October 18, the Birmingham 
' Daily Post,' a journal which in character and in- 
fluence is to England's provincial press what the 
London 'Times' is to metropolitan journalism, gave 
the subjoined introduction to an account of the 
memorial ceremony, which occupied the larger part 
of one of its spacious pages : — 

*' Stratford-upon-Avon arrayed herself in a festi- 
val garment of sunshine, yesterday, for a function 



io8 The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 

which, if not quite, as the Mayor enthusiastically 
called it, ' the crowning event of the Jubilee Year,' 
was of striking internal and literary significance. 
Mr. Henry Irving inaugurated the memorial foun- 
tain and clock tower which Mr. G. W. Childs, a 
citizen of Philadelphia, has presented to the town. 
The function was a singularly quiet one, as all func- 
tions in such an old-world place as Stratford must 
necessarily be ; but it was not the less significant and 
interesting on that account. Mr. Childs's beautiful 
gift is remarkable alike as a reverent tribute to the 
memory of Shakspeare from a distant member of 
the English-speaking race, and as a token of the 
good-will which subsists between the British and 
the American nations. Moreover, the little crowd 
which gathered to assist at the ceremony was rep- 
resentative in some degree of the whole race, of all 
the learned professions, and of all estates of the 
realm. 

" Sir Arthur Hodgson, in his own person, carried 
the proceedings through with a fine fervor of 
enthusiasm which infected every one about him. 
The memorial itself must always command admira- 
tion. It stands alone in the centre of the old 
' rother,' or cattle market — a graceful pile of white 
Peterhead stone, tapering by bold buttresses and 



The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 109 

pointed gablets to a pretty finial. It is adorned 
with tiny statues of some of Shakspeare's most 
fanciful creations — Puck, Mustard-seed, Peas-blos- 
som, and Cobweb bringing the fruits which Bottom 
was facetiously pleased to ask for, and a host of 
other quaint, imagined beings, peering down from 
the mouldings. The ornament is emblematic of 
the union of the two nations, and the base bears 
four well- chosen inscriptions — one recording the 
gift ; another embodying the prophecy which, 
occurring in the play of * Henry VIII.,' seems to be 
so well fulfilled in the present reign ; a third, in 
Washington Irving's words, crying ' ten thousand 
honors and blessings on the bard who has gilded 
the dull realities of life with innocent illusions ;' and 
a fourth, over the drinking-cups, in praise of 'honest 
water, which ne'er left man i' the mire.' This is not the 
only gift of Mr. Childs to the English people. He is 
the donor of the American Window in Westminster 
Abbey in memory of George Herbert and William 
Cowper, of which tribute Dean Stanley is said to 
have been especially proud, and for which he wrote 
an inscription. The munificent public spirit with 
which his name is associated has become possible 
for him as the result of a pushing and successful 
career as a journalist. His personality was yester- 



no The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 

day sketched by a lifelong friend when Mr. Walter, 
of the ' Times,' described him to the luncheon party 
assembled to share the Mayor's hospitality at the 
Town Hall. 

"Two circumstances joined to rob the day's doings 
of a portion of their pleasure. One was the absence 
of Mr. James Russell Lowell, whom Englishmen 
have learned to greet as a dear friend ; the other 
was the necessity for hurrying through the pro- 
gramme in order that Mr. Irving might depart for 
London. But Mr. Lowell sent a letter of apology 
which served for a speech, and Dr. Oliver Wendell 
Holmes some rhythmic and scholarly verses, which 
were better than a speech ; while Mr. Irving, all un- 
asked, promised to bring over to the Memorial 
Theatre his Lyceum * troop of players.' Besides, 
there was a gracious message from the Queen, ex- 
pressing her pleasure at hearing of Mr. Childs's 
handsome gift, and a characteristic letter from Mr. 
Whittier. Mr. Irving's speeches were marked by 
the depth of thought, the grace of expression, and 
the music of delivery which were to have been 
looked for from him ; and he made quite a telling 
picture as he stood against the white fountain read- 
ing Dr. Holmes's stanzas, his fine face lighted up 
with the sentiment, and his iron-grey locks exposed 



The Stratford-Kpon-Avon Fountain. i r i 

to the sun. Mr. Phelps, who spoke only at the 
luncheon, exalted the occasion and all such friendly 
occasions at the expense of international treaties, as 
to which he had some straightforward things to 
say. The day was brightened by an incident which, 
though not a part of the official programme, was of a 
piece with all that w^ent before and came after. The 
Vicar of Stratford made his peace with Mr. Samuel 
Timmins. He came forward at the fountain and 
shook hands with that gentleman, who returned his 
grasp with interest, and so a quarrel was made up 
which has excited a good deal of comment among 
all who take interest in Shakspeare's town. In the 
same happy way, the Memorial may be said to have 
atoned for the barbarous proposal of a certain com- 
mercial Yankee to buy up the poet's house and 
move it bodily to America, and for the ingenious 
attempt of one of his countrymen to show that 
Shakspeare could not write, but made his mark, 
like Bill Stumps. 

" The ceremony at the fountain took place at 
noon, the Mayor and his guests having assembled 
at the Town Hall a few minutes previously. The 
procession to the Square was headed by the Snitter- 
field Brass Band, and the civic portion of it was 
preceded by the Sergeants-at Mace and brought 



112 The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 

up by the Corporation Beadle. The Mayors of 
Stratford and of the neighboring boroughs, with 
other official personages, wore the robes and other 
insignia of their offices. The local corps of Volun- 
teers, headed by their drum-and-fife band, had pre- 
viously arrived, and had taken up their position as 
a guard of honor near the fountain." 



THE JOINING OF HANDS. 

In the same number of the ' Daily Post,' the fol- 
lowing editorial comment was made : — 

" Literature and Art, the Press and the Stage, 
England and America, joined hands yesterday at 
Stratford-upon-Avon, in doing honor to one of the 
most illustrious representatives of our common 
Stock, and in doing so it is scarcely necessary to 
add that they did honor to themselves and con- 
tributed in no mean degree to draw closer the 
bonds of union between the great two branches of 
the English-speaking race. The memorial fountain 
and clock tower, which were formally presented to 
Shakspeare's native town on this occasion on behalf 
of Mr. Childs, the well-known newspaper proprietor 
and editor of Philadelphia, are not by any means the 



The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 1 1 3 

first tribute of the kind which has been offered up 
by American citizens at that beloved shrine, which 
is every year the Mecca for so many troops of 
reverent pilgrims from beyond the Atlantic; but 
Mr. Childs's gift possesses a special international 
significance from the expressed desire of the donor 
that it should be construed as a token of good-will 
towards us in this Year of the Jubilee, and should 
serve to cement the union of two great nations 
* that have the fame and works of the poet Shaks- 
peare as their common heritage.' And that 
nothing might be wanting to the completeness of 
yesterday's function, the dedication was graced by 
characteristic contributions from some of the most 
renowned men of letters in the great Republic of 
the West, including Mr. James Russell Lowell, the 
ex-American Minister ; Mr. John Greenleaf Whit- 
tier, the venerable Quaker poet ; and Dr. Oliver 
Wendell Holmes, whose poem, specially written for 
the occasion, so happily and eloquently expresses 
the aspirations to which the gift naturally lends 
itself On the English side, the stage, which is 
under so deep and special a debt of gratitude to 
the great dramatist, was not unworthily represented 
by Mr. Irving, on whom devolved the proud task 
of inaugurating the memorial ; whilst the English 



1 14 The Stratford-itpon-Avoit Fountain. 

newspaper press, in the person of Mr. Walter, the 
chief proprietor of the * Times', cordially acknowl- 
edged and welcomed this substantial token of good- 
will from a brother journalist of the New World. 
Mr. Irving is always happy on occasions of this 
kind, in which the actor for a time plays out his 
role, or rather sinks the interests of the profession 
to which he belongs in the wider interests of the 
English citizen ; and his little address yesterday was 
equally excellent in taste and felicitous in illustra- 
tion — in none more so, perhaps, than in the passage 
where he pictures Shakspeare returning from his 
bourne *to find upon the throne a Queen who ruled 
with gentler sway than the great sovereign he knew, 
and yet whose reign had glories more beneficent 
than those of Elizabeth.' But the palm for graceful 
felicity of thought and diction must be awarded to 
Mr. James Russell Lowell, whose letter is a model 
of its kind. It was Washington Irving, he reminds 
us, who first embodied in his delightful English the 
emotion which Stratford-upon-Avon awakes in the 
heart of the American pilgrim who visits it, and he 
rejoices that this international memorial, which re- 
calls the kindred blood of two great nations, 'joint 
heirs of the same noble language and of the genius 
that has given it a cosmopolitan significance,' 



The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 1 1 5 

should be the gift of an American. He hails it as 
one of the multiplying signs that the two nations 
<are beginning to think more and more of the things 
in which they sympathize, and less and less of 
those in which they differ.' The territorial interests 
which we once held in common are sundered, but 
the ties of blood and race survive, and are forcibly 
brought home to us as we join in common wor- 
ship before the shrine of Shakspeare. These ties, 
we devoutly hope with Mr. Lowell, will be drawn 
closer as science goes on abolishing time and space, 
favoring that 'peaceful commerce 'twixt dividable 
shores' which is so potent to clear away ' whatever 
is exclusive in nationality or savors of barbarism 
in patriotism.' The Queen's message of congratula- 
tion was a happy thought, which cannot but assist 
the working of the charm ; and the proceedings 
altogether were of an order to entitle the day to 
a red-letter mark in the calendar, not only of Strat- 
ford, but of England and the United States." 



FRATERNAL RELATIONS. 

On the same day the Liverpool * Post,' another 
provincial journal of high character, prefaced the 



Ii6 The Stratford-upon-Avon Foimtain. 

long and interesting report of the proceedings at 
Stratford with these appreciative remarks :— 

'' The fraternal relations of the two great nations 
which regard the works of Shakspeare as a com- 
mon heritage were shown in a happy manner 
at Stratford-upon-Avon to-day. Some time ago a 
prominent and respected citizen of the United 
States, Mr. George W. Childs, of Philadelphia, 
determined to celebrate the Jubilee Year of Queen 
Victoria's reign by a memorial of American sym- 
pathy to be erected in the birthplace of England's 
greatest poet. Mr. Childs, it may be recollected, 
is the donor of the American Window placed in 
Westminster Abbey to the memory of George 
Herbert and W^illiam Cowper. Mr. Childs's gift 
to Stratford has taken "the form of a drinking foun- 
tain and clock tower, and their inauguration to-day 
was made the occasion of a ceremonial of inter- 
national interest, forming both a welcome and sub- 
stantial benefit to the town, and a graceful addition 
to its many points of natural and historic interest. 
Stratford accepted the bequest with a heartiness at 
once agreeable to its author, and illustrative of the 
friendly feeling of the Warwickshire people for those 
of the great Republic of the West. The Mayor of 
Stratford, Sir Arthur Irlodgson, K.C.M.G., in accept- 



The Stratford-upon-Avoii Fountain. 117 

ing Mr. Childs's munificence, arranged for an inau- 
gural ceremonial befitting its international as well as 
practical character. Sir Arthur issued invitations 
on a scale of imposing hospitality, and among the 
one hundred guests invited, most of whom sent 
responsive replies, were the Lord-Lieutenant of 
Warwickshire, Earl De La Warr, the Mayors of Bir- 
mingham, Warwick, Coventry, Leamington, Lich- 
field, and Worcester, the American Minister (Mr. 
Phelps), Sir Theodore Martin, Lord Ronald Gower, 
Mr. Henry Irving (one of the trustees of Shaks- 
peare's birthplace). Dr. Macaulay (of * The Leisure 
Hour'), Sir Philip Cunliffe Owen, Mr. J. C. Parkin- 
son, Mr. John Walter of the * Times,' and other 
Shakspearian scholars and representatives of litera- 
ture, art, and the drama. The townsfolk themselves, 
seconding the efforts of the chief magistrate, deco- 
rated their houses with bunting, flowers, and ever- 
greens, closing their places of business during the 
ceremonial, and exhilarating the sense of prevailing 
enthusiasm by the music of their excellent Volun- 
teer Band. The interest of Stratford itself was 
shared also by the inhabitants of the neiehborin^^ 
districts. Stratford-upon-Avon typifies all that is 
rustic and interesting in a well-preserved English 
town. The most unemotional observer, moreover. 



Il8 The Sir atford-u poll- Avon Fountain. 

is made quickly aware that he is in the birthplace 
of Shakspeare. There are memorials of the bard at 
nearly every corner. Shakspeare's name is found 
upon men and things, and one might forgive the 
local innkeeper if he gave the pilgrim a salutation 
in the language of the great dramatist, or in the 
manner of Mr. Irving, who has come to be himself 
a kind of twin patron saint of Stratford — a demi- 
god, the only man next to the illustrious genius 
whose works he interprets. But, though the ineriu 
card used at the luncheon was ingeniously inter- 
spersed with cunningly appropriate mottoes culled 
from Shakspeare's masterpieces, the conductors and 
waiters of the two excellent hotels are content to 
execute their service in the language of latter-day 
prose. Neither is there reason to believe that the 
Chief Constable of the town dismisses his men to 
their duty with a charge modelled upon Dogberry's, 
or that the good watchmen themselves pass the 
night under the church porch, so that they may 
amiably suffer rogues and other unclean persons to 
steal incontinently out of their neighborhood." 



The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 119 



KINDRED BLOOD. 

Editorially the ' Post' referred to the memorial 
celebration in the words following : — 

"A handsome memorial fountain and clock tower, 
presented by Mr. G. W. Childs, of Philadelphia, to 
* Shakspeare's town in the Jubilee Year of Queen 
Victoria,' were publicly inaugurated at Stratford- 
upon-Avon yesterday by Mr. Henry Irving. Among 
those present were Mr. Phelps, the American Minis- 
ter, In handing over the m^emorial to the Mayor, 
Mr. Irving said he rejoiced in the happy inspiration 
which prompted a gift that so worthily represented 
the homage of two great peoples to the most 
famous man of their common race. A letter was 
read from Mr. James Russell Lowell, who wrote 
that the memorial would serve to recall the kindred 
blood of the two great nations — ^joint heirs of the 
same noble language, and of the genius that had 
given it cosmopolitan significance. During the pro- 
ceedings the Mayor despatched a message to the 
Queen announcing that the toast of her Majesty's 
health had been most loyally received by the dis- 
tinguished company present. Shortly afterwards, a 
reply was received from her Majesty stating that she 



I20 The Stratford-upon-Avon Foufitain. 

was much gratified by the loyal and kind expres- 
sions contained in the Mayor's telegram, and inte- 
rested to hear of the handsome gift of Mr. Childs." 



THE VOICE OF THE ' WORLD: 

The American newspaper press demonstrated, by 
the publication of special cable despatches, by letters 
from special correspondents, and by editorial ex- 
pressions of approval and admiration, that the 
interest in and sympathy with the spirit of Mr. 
Childs's gift were not less strong among the people 
of this country than among those of England. The 
despatches from Stratford to the New York 'World' 
filled four and a half of the long broad columns of 
that journal, of which the following abstract was 
made : — 

" George W. Childs's memorial to Shakspeare 
was inaugurated to-day with much imposing cere- 
mony. Stratford-upon-Avon has never before held 
so many strangers within its walls as to-day. Hun- 
dreds of Americans ran down from London last 
night and by the early morning trains, taxing to the 
utmost the somewhat limited facilities of the quiet 
old town for harboring transient guests. The new 
Shakspeare House was packed with transatlantic 



The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 121 

pilgrims, and some amusement was created by the 
boniface shouting out, as the weary wayfarers arrived, 
'Take this young couple up to Romeo and Juhet.' 
The chambers in the old inn bear the names of the 
works wTitten by the immortal Will — or somebody 
else. A melancholy American tragedian, lately 
crushed by the English critics, seemed somewhat 
put out when shown up to ' Hamlet,' and an elderly 
couple from Chicago did not like their quarters in 
* Love's Labor's Lost.' For the first time in two 
w^eeks, according to the local weather man, the sun 
shone in Stratford this morning, setting off the hand- 
some gift of the philanthropic Philadelphian to its 
best advantage. From dawn until midday the roads 
from the surrounding country were thronged with 
every sort of vehicle, from the dog-cart of the 
gentry to the ox-team of the yokel. The local and 
neighboring dignitaries, bearing up proudly under 
their massive gold chains and other weighty insignia 
of office, strode through the broad streets lined with 
quaint old-fashioned houses, making a truly old- 
world picture. The Town Crier was much alarmed 
by the numbers, and told me quietly that ' some 
would have to go home hungry, and that ** Lunnon" 
certainly must look deserted.' But everything went 
off without a hitch, and, best of all, none of the many 



122 The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 

improvident pilgrims went home hungry, thanks to 
the municipal hospitality. 

** When the time came Mayor Hodgson wound 
up the clock in the stone spire, and Henry Irving 
turned on the first flow of the precious liquid. But 
the arrival of the Queen's telegram was the sensa- 
tion of the day, not being on the card and being 
quite unexpected. The telegraph operator rushed 
headlong from the office down to the square. Mr. 
Phelps's speech was interrupted, and the precious 
despatch was read. It was the first time that Strat- 
ford has heard from the Queen telegraphically for 
thirty-five years. Throughout the day the attending 
bands of music played, with absolute impartiality, 
' God Save the Queen' and ' Hail Columbia,' while 
the citizens of Greater Britain beyond the seas sported 
miniature union jacks in their buttonholes, and the 
inhabitants of * the tight little isle' were resplendent 
in stars and stripes. 

" Graceful in its inception, the generous gift of 
Mr. Childs was gracefully received, and the cere- 
monies concluded in the most graceful manner possi- 
ble by a banquet, which was as excellent in the 
material way as had been the preceding flow of wit 
and wisdom. The Stratford folk do not seem to be 
imbued in the least with any belief in the Baconian 



The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 123 

theory. In fact, they look upon it as a base attempt 
to rob their town of one of its chief claims to reve- 
nue and repute, and regard it as being inspired by 
an invidious neighbor." 



UNDER BRIGHTEST AUSPICES. 

Another of the 'World's' special correspondents 
added this introduction to a very comprehensive 
report of the entire presentation ceremonies : — 

'*The inauguration of the Memorial Fountain pre- 
sented by Mr. G. W. Childs, of Philadelphia, to 
Stratford-upon-Avon, passed off under the brightest 
auspices. Never has the old town celebrated a 
festive occasion with more enthusiasm or presented 
itself under better aspects. The weather was per- 
fect. The last after-glow of summer suffused the 
antique tenements with a softened light, and the 
streets were radiant with bunting, draping the an- 
cient frontages and suspended in festoons along the 
eaves. No general holiday had been proclaimed 
by the authorities, but the townsfolk, of their own 
prompting, made holiday. The Mayor, Sir Arthur 
Hodgson, had suggested a partial suspension of 
business during the ceremonial, but the event quite 



124 ^^^^ Stratford-upoJi-Avon Foinitain. 

stirred the pulses of the people and the day became 
a general Jubilee. Public interest was much more 
than local. Visitors from London, Birmingham, 
and other populous centres were attracted and con- 
tributed to give Stratford one of the liveliest days in 
its annals. 

" Among the distinguished visitors w^ere United 
States Minister Phelps, Lord Ronald Gower, Lord 
De La Warr, Sir Theodore Martin, Sir Philip Cunliffe 
Owen, Mr. Henry Irving, and the Mayors of Worces- 
ter, Lichfield, Coventry, Warwick, and Leamington, 
who were the guests of the corporation. At noon 
all these, with many other visitors, had assembled at 
the Town Hall, whence the Mayor and the mem- 
bers of the corporation, all attired in their official 
robes, marched in procession to the site of the 
memorial. Here there had long been assembled a 
large throng of townsfolk and strangers, who ad- 
mired the graceful proportions of the fine structure 
which now associates the name of Mr. Childs with 
the history of Stratford-upon-Avon. The crowd 
was cleared back by a guard of the local volunteer 
corps, and a square was formed, within which the 
ceremony was proceeded with. A large marquee 
had been erected as a precaution against inclement 
weather, but it was deserted for the space around 
the fountain." 



The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountaiii. 125 



THE 'HERALD'S' REPORT. 

The account of the day and its ceremonies tele- 
graphed to the New York ' Herald' was only less 
extended than that published by its neighbor the 
' World,' but it was still lengthy enough to serve as 
' a brief epitome and chronicle of the notable celebra- 
tion, its author being Hon. A. Oakey Hall, formerly 
Mayor of New York City, but at the time of the 
dedication he was, as he now is, an eminent London 
journalist, representing in the great metropolis with 
scholarly ability the * Herald.' Mr. Hall's account is 
so admirably written, and presents so attractive a 
view of Stratford on the day of the Fountain's dedi- 
cation, as to render its introduction here more than 
pardonable. Mr. Hall said : — 

** The names of William Shakspeare and George 
William Childs will be indissolubly united after 
this day in this city, where the editor's fountain and 
clock tower were added to the bard's memorials to 
glorify this historic spot. The Philadelphian's gift 
was long ago described in the * Herald' when the 
designs were adopted. As completed and this 
morning dedicated, the gift is doubtless one of the 
most artistic fountains in the world, as will be seen 



126 TJie Stratford-upon-Avon Foimtain. 

when some of the several thousand photos now 
multiplying reach New York. 

''After several days of wintry weather, this morn- 
ing came in as a St. Martin's summer day, with 
bright, warm sunshine. The early trains from 
London, Leamington, Worcester, Warwick, etc. 
brought throngs of sightseers. On every side flags 
abounded, including the Stars and Stripes, fine 
specimens of which flew from the spire of the Town 
Hall and the Mayoralty residence, where the Mayor, 
Sir Arthur Hodgson, entertained Minister Phelps 
as an especial guest, and Sir Theodore Martin, 
John Walter, proprietor of the London ' Times,' 
Sir Philip Cunliffe Owen, Earl De La Warr, 
Dr. Macaulay, and several other notables from adja- 
cent cities. 

'•'At noon a procession left the Town Hall to 
march a quarter of a mile to the fountain, which 
fronts a square formed by the junction of several 
streets and is looked upon by Shakspeare's house. 
The procession, headed by the Mayor and Alder- 
men in full regalia, escorting Mr. Irving and thirty 
guests, was preceded by a band playing British 
patriotic airs. On arriving at the variegated granite 
gift, Mayor Hodgson, in gorgeous robes and chain, 
presenting a decidedly classic face and figure, took 



The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountam. 127 

his stand at the foot of the steps leading up to the 
drink-fountain. 

*' After reading a quaint letter from the poet 
Whittier and another from James Russell Lowell, 
he briefly explained the object of the gathering, 
with eulogistic and well-expressed references to 
Mr. Childs, and complimentary allusions to Amer- 
ica, 'the adopted country of Shakspeare,' and in- 
troduced Minister Phelps as the representative of 
the United States. The latter's speech, given with 
diplomatic skill, was short but full of meaning. 
Everybody awaited Irving, who meantime had taken 
a position on the second step of the inside structure, 
partially leaning against the granite wing. At this 
moment an instantaneous photograph was taken of 
the entire group, to be sent to Mr. Childs. 

** Mr. Irving then, by request, stood within the dry 
basin in dedicating the gift, and, with fine elocution, 
made an address lasting a quarter of an hour, in the 
course of which he said, as a part of the perora- 
tion : — 

" 'The donor of this beautiful monument I am 
happy to claim as a personal friend. Mr. George 
W. Childs is not only an admirable representative 
of the public spirit and enterprising energy of 
Philadelphia, but he is also a man who has endeared 



128 The Stratford-up 071- Avon Fountain. 

himself to a very wide circle by many generous 
deeds. 

" ' I do not wonder at his munificence, for to men 
like him it is second nature; but I rejoice in the 
happy inspiration which prompted a gift which so 
worthily represents the common homage of two 
great people to the most famous man of their 
common race. 

" ' The simplest records of Stratford show that this 
is the Mecca of American pilgrims, and that the 
place which gave birth to Shakspeare is regarded 
as the fountain of the mightiest and most enduring 
inspiration of our mother tongue.' 

*' The following was his epilogue : ' Let me con- 
jure fancies. Let me picture Shakspeare to-day 
returning from his bourne to find upon the throne 
one who rules with gentler sway than the great 
sovereign that he knew, and yet whose reign has 
glories more beneficent than those of Elizabeth. 
We can try to imagine his emotion when he finds 
this dear England he loved so well expanded beyond 
seas. 

" 'We can at least be happy in the thought that 
when he had mastered the lessons of the conflict 
which divided us from our kinsmen in America, he 
would be proud to see in Stratford this gift of a 



The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 129 

distinguished American citizen — this memorial of 
our reunion — under the shadow of his undying 
name.' 

*' During his speech Mr. Irving referred to the 
manuscript ode which he had previously read, and 
which Avas written for the occasion by Dr. Holmes. 

" Then Dr. Macaulay, as a personal friend of 
Mr. Childs, and Mr. Irving, representing the au- 
thorities, jointly turned on the water into the large 
drinking-fountain for horses and cattle, the smaller 
one for dogs and the interior one for thirsty pedes- 
trians, while simultaneously invisible hands inside 
the clock tower set the hour and started the works. 
The first flow, however, was caught in a flat glass 
jar, bought at the bar of the Shakspeare Inn, hard 
by, and was handed by Sir Philip Cunliffe Owen to 
Mr. Irving, to be by him presented in person to 
Mr. Childs. 

" A striking incident here occurred. A large 
white spitz dog, evidently astray and a stranger to 
the town, who had gravely joined the procession, 
next dignifiedly ensconced himself inside the fountain 
steps and listened in a crouched attitude to the 
speeches, but when the water was turned on he 
arose, and approaching Mr. Irving, uttered a slight 
bark. The tragedian patted the dog amid applause, 
9 



130 The Stratford-upon-Avo7i Fountain. 

while J. C. Parkinson and Clement Scott graciously 
led the animal to a small trough. However, they 
realized the old maxim about leading a beast to 
water. 

** Next the procession re-formed, the band playing 
'Hail Columbia!' and the guests turned their backs 
on water to take wine and biscuits and face a de- 
lightful ineitii at luncheon in the Town Hall ban- 
queting-room, to enter which they filed past a life- 
size statue of Shakspeare on the porch. Covers 
had been laid for two hundred under Gainsborough's 
celebrated picture of Garrick leaning against Shaks- 
peare's bust, Wilkie's picture of Shakspeare, and a 
full-length portrait of good Queen Anne. 

" The menu was of aldermanic proportions, con- 
sisting of thirty different dishes, with a generous 
supply of bottles of six species of wine. 

** Every dish on the meniL was illustrated by 
Shakspearian lines. I give three apt ones : To the 
galantines of pigeons with mushrooms, this from 
Henry IV., ' Some pigeons, Davy, and any little 
kickshaws, tell William the cook.' From the same 
play to the salads — 'Salad was born to do me good.' 
To tongue this, from ' The Merchant of Venice' — 
* Silence is only commendable in a neat's tongue 
dried.' 



The Stratford-up 071- Avon Fountain. 131 

" The royal toasts were fully honored. Minister 
Phelps eulogized President Cleveland and gallantly 
referred to Mrs. Cleveland. Dr. Macaulay and then 
Sir Philip Cunliffe Owen responded to the health of 
Mr. Childs ; but the best speech was by Mr. Irving, 
responding to the memory of Shakspeare, and con- 
cluding thus : — 

" * Ladies and gentlemen : In a few days I shall sail 
for the great country where any worthy representa- 
tion of Shakspeare on the stage commands as stanch 
a support from the public as in our own land. 

" * I shall carry, as your ambassador to Mr. Childs, 
your enthusiastic appreciation of his generous gift. 

*' * To-day's ceremonial has given infinite pleasure 
to all, for it has renewed our hallowed associations 
with the mighty dead and has reminded two great 
nations of the bond which no calamity can dissolve; 
and, believe me, it will make every actor in the 
world-wide sphere of Shakspeare's influence prouder 
than ever of the calling which I have the privilege 
of representing here.' 

*' In response to a call, John Walter, of the Lon- 
don * Times,' made a few offhand remarks about 
Mr. Childs's hospitality to himself when in America, 
applying to Mr. Childs the line about taking the 
tide at flood which led him on to fortune. 



132 The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain, 

" Next, turning toward Mayor Hodgson, he said, 
* We were boys at Eton. Until to-day we have not 
met in half a century. He was known at school as 
'' Trump Hodgson." When I saw him to-day, my 
salutation was, '' How d'ye do. Trump?" And cer- 
tainly, along with Mr. Childs, as I turn from the 
fountain to the banquet, he has proven himself a 
very trump.' 

'' This was heartily received by all the guests, and 
all separated with the line aptly chosen at the end 
of the 7nenu from 'All's Well That Ends Well :' 'A 
good traveller is something at the latter end of a 
dinner,' " 



A CONSENSUS OF PRAISE. 

With no known exception the leading news- 
papers of the United States printed special or 
Associated Press despatches from Stratford, which 
were generally accompanied by editorial remarks 
referring to the celebration of the previous day. 
Of the several hundred appreciative editorial articles 
which were kindly sent me by their writers I have 
thought it not unfit to use a few to round out this 
history of the Shakspeare Memorial on the Avon- 



The StratJord-itpon-Avon Fountain, 133 

side. That which so attractively characterized all 
the elaborate reports and remarks of both the 
English and American journals was the common 
recognition and fine appreciation of the spirit of 
international good-will which inspired Mr. Childs 
to set up there, near by the poet's home, an endur- 
ing memorial of the love and reverence of all 
English-speaking people for that sublime genius 
who filled not only the spacious times of Great 
Elizabeth, but all times since with the wondrous 
wisdom and beauty of his thought and feeling. 



AT MR. CHILDS' S HOME. 

The newspapers of Philadelphia, on the day fol- 
lowing the celebration at Shakspeare's birthplace, 
published lengthy accounts by their special foreign 
correspondents of the ceremonies, which were sup- 
plemented by editorial comments. The spirit of 
them all was sufficiently suggested by the following 
editorial remarks of the ' Evening Telegraph' : — 

'' The dedication yesterday — the full particulars 
of which were published in our issue of yesterday 
afternoon — of the beautiful Memorial Fountain pre- 
sented to the town of Stratford-upon-Avon, the birth- 



134 The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 

place of Shakspeare, by Mr. George W. Childs, 
was a very interesting and imposing demonstration. 
Mr. Irving, as the representative of the scholarly and 
artistic traditions of the English theatre, was very 
appropriately the orator of the occasion ; while the 
graceful letter from Mr. James Russell Lowell, the 
poem by Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, and the 
address of Minister Phelps, testified to the American 
interest in the occasion, and to our claims to be 
inheritors with the English of the glorious works 
which the genius of Shakspeare produced. Abund- 
ant praise was bestowed by all the participants on 
Mr. Childs for his enlightened liberality, and it 
was agreed upon all sides that the Fountain was a 
very beautiful work, and the fact that it was the gift 
of an American gave it a particular value. Mr. 
Lowell, in his letter, made a graceful and appropriate 
allusion to the fact that as it was Washington Irving 
who first embodied in proper language the emotion 
which Stratford-upon-Avon awakens in the mind of 
the pilgrim, so it was a countryman of Irving who 
had, in '"a solid and durable way,' said one of those 
agreeable things which seem to make EngHshmen 
and Americans regard themselves as having a com- 
mon interest in many matters besides the fame and 
works of Shakspeare." 



The Stratford-upon-Avo7i Fountain. 135 

In its issue of October i8th, the 'Times' of 
Philadelphia added this just and appropriate com- 
ment to the general expression, in similar vein, of 
the English and American press : — 

" In erecting monuments to other people in 
various parts of the world, Mr. Childs is perpetu- 
ating the memory of his own public-spirited gene- 
rosity. It might be said that Shakspeare needed no 
monumental shaft, and least of all in Stratford-upon- 
Avon, where everything speaks the poet's name. 
But the structure which was dedicated yesterday 
is the first distinct recognition at modern hands of 
that which has made the old town forever famous, 
and there is an especial significance in the manner 
of its erection, which makes it the New World's 
tribute to the genius whose sway is acknowledged , 
far beyond even Victoria's wide realm, and has 
equally enriched all English-speaking people under 
every flag. The monument is thus far more than 
an individual gift to the town of Stratford. It has 
its international significance as well, and is a token 
of the universality of those higher interests of our 
race that transcend all mere political boundaries." 



136 The Stratford-upon-Avo7i Foimtain. 



FRIENDS ELSEWHERE, 

The editorial references of the American news- 
paper press were peculiarly appreciative, the New 
York 'Times' of October i8th saying: — 

"■ The proceedings at Stratford-upon-Avon on 
Monday in dedicating to the memory of Shakspeare 
the Memorial Fountain presented to the town by 
Mr. George W. Childs, of Philadelphia, afforded one 
of those occasions upon which Englishmen and Ame- 
ricans, especially the latter, delight to recognize the 
common ties of tradition and literature which unite 
the two peoples in a relationship made too strong by 
natural kinship to be severed by oft-recurring con- 
flicts of interest. It is doubtful if, even in England, 
there is such a universal reading and understanding 
of the works of Shakspeare among the mass of the 
people as in this country, or such a general appre- 
ciation of the grand heritage of English literature. 
The sympathy produced by this common possession 
of a language and literature is stronger than is 
generally acknowledged, and it is the basis of a 
mutual understanding that ought to be a guarantee 
of perpetual friendly relations. Incidents like that 
of yesterday, brought about by a generous and pub- 



The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 137 

lie-spirited American, are of value in reminding the 
two nations of what they have in common, and in 
teaching them to be tolerant in those things in 
which they differ." 

The ' Times's' neighbor, the 'Commercial Adver- 
tiser,' made the following editorial comment on the 
celebration : — 

" The exercises which marked the dedication of 
the Childs Memorial Fountain to Shakspeare at 
Stratford-upon-Avon drew together yesterday a 
notable company, in which America was well repre- 
sented. The gift itself came from this country, and 
the principal and characteristic parts of the services 
were American also. The letter from Mr. Lowell, 
the poem by Dr. Holmes, and the active participa- 
tion in the exercises by Minister Phelps gave a tone 
to the occasion which stamped it as distinctively 
American. And it may be added that the memorial 
theatre and museum that is erected hard by the site 
of the fountain owes much to the interest felt in 
Shakspeare's fame by citizens of the United States. 

" Our love and reverence for the Stratford poet are 
natural and easy of explanation. As Mr. Irving 
said, Shakspeare's tomb is a literary Mecca for all 
English-speaking peoples, and especially for that 
branch of the family that quit the fatherland not far 



138 The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 

from the poet's time and carried with them the 
EngHsh he and his neighbors spoke. The claim is 
sometimes made, and perhaps should be made with 
greater seriousness than we are inclined to use, 
that Americans speak better English than the pre- 
sent inhabitants of England. We shall not now de- 
fend either side of such a contention, but it is worth 
while to notice that such a close Shakspearian 
student as Mr. Irving — who can speak, too, from 
extensive observation and a large acquaintance in 
America — finds occasion to say that * some of the 
idioms which are supposed to be of American inven- 
tion can be traced back to Shakspeare,' and that it is 
more than probable that among the original settlers 
of this country were men who had sat in the Globe 
Theatre and brought away from it ' something of 
Shakspeare's imagery and vivid portraiture.' 

'' It is fitting, therefore, that Americans should 
take a conspicuous share in any memorials which 
gratitude may raise to the greatest master of our 
language. His reign, as Mr. Lowell happily ex- 
pressed it, is not subject to political vicissitudes. 
He holds his possessions, on either shore of the 
dividing sea, ' in memory and imagination by a title 
such as no conquest ever established, and no revo- 
lution can ever overthrow.' That, in these latter 



The Stratford-up oil- Avon Fountain. 139 

days, presumptuous rebels have contested his claims 
to the world's affectionate homage did not disturb 
yesterday's devotions at his tomb, and will not, we 
fancy, ever shake, to any noticeable degree, the 
allegiance of mankind." 



FROM THE FAR WEST. 

'/ - - 

Under the caption of " A New Fraternity," the 
'Evening Wisconsin,' of Milwaukee, thus happily ex- 
pressed the full and perfect meaning of Mr. Childs's 
gift as well as the common sentiment of the broad 
western world for which it has authority to 
speak : — 

** More than skilful diplomacy could do in a score 
of years in cementing friendship and unifying senti- 
ment between England and America, was accom- 
plished at Stratford-upon-Avon yesterday by the 
wise generosity of one man, and he an American 
citizen. 

" With imposing ceremony, far more heartfelt and 
cordial than is often witnessed on any public occa- 
sion, there was presented to the village of Stratford 
the superb and symbolical Memorial Fountain to 
Shakspeare, the erection of which had been ordered 



1 40 The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 

by George W. Childs, of Philadelphia, with the 
injunction, ' Spare no expense.' ' I wish,' said 
Mr. Childs, in one of his letters to the Mayor of 
Stratford, 'to present a gift to Shakspeare's town 
worthy of his great name.' 

'' In his Memorial, thus modestly given, 
Mr. Childs has rendered a better service to Ame- 
rica than to England, or even to Shakspeare's vil- 
lage of Stratford. He has indicated and expressed 
in the best manner the American appreciation of the 
immortal work Shakspeare did, and the American 
reverence of what, in his peerless genius, Shakspeare 
was. He has crystallized into something tangible, 
which all the world will permanently look upon, the 
intangible fact that America, the babe among 
nations in age and in the development of her litera- 
ture, is not a babe, but an equal of every nation, 
in her intelligent, discriminating understanding of 
Shakspeare as ' the fountain of the mightiest and 
most enduring inspiration of the English tongue.' 

" And as a tribute to England almost as much as 
in its symbolical aspect, the gift is of rare and last- 
ing worth. It is a monument set up to be read by 
Americans and Englishmen of all time as the sign 
of kinship in nationality — marking us one in lan- 
guage and sympathies, and, to an extent, one in aims 



The Stratford-iLpon-Avon Fountain. 141 

and methods for the on-pushing of the world's civ- 
ihzation. It was a graceful act to set an American 
mem.orial on English soil in honor of an English- 
man ; and it will stand as one more welcome ob- 
stacle in the way of estrangements between the two 
peoples. 

" The ceremonial of yesterday's dedication was in 
every detail faultless. The weather was perfect ; the 
concourse of people vast and their deportment cor- 
dial ; the gathering of distinguished Englishmen and 
Americans was large and representative, and the 
addresses and letters were of signal merit and appro- 
priateness. The letter from James Russell Lowell, 
the genial, able speech by Henry Irving, and the 
poem contributed by our revered Oliver Wendell 
Holmes, were in their matter and manner and ren- 
dition beyond criticism. 

*' It was a good day and a good happening for 
Englishmen and Americans. The keynote in all 
that was said and done was ' fraternity.' The 
modest Philadelphia philanthropist, in pleasing a 
noble impulse born primarily out of his regard for 
genius, "has rendered a permanent service to patriot- 
ism and to the brotherhood of nations." 



142 The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 



THE VOICE OF THE SOUTH 

The Daily ' News,' of Baltimore,, referring to the 
universal interest which everything of moment rela- 
ting to Shakspeare creates, said : — 

'' The description of the dedication of Mr. 
Childs's Fountain has been given as much space by 
the press — British and American — as some great 
political event might have been. And yet it was 
an occurrence of little international significance — 
merely a tribute paid by a private American citizen 
to the greatest genius of England. But this affec- 
tion and admiration for Shakspeare are so profound 
and universal — so much like a religion — that every 
fact relating to him or his memory excites almost 
world-wide attention. More closely and zealously 
every year is he studied, and more earnestly and 
pertinaciously is the attempt made to penetrate the 
beautiful mystery of his genius. Never were there 
so many books published about him as now, 
although those already concerned with the sub- 
ject make a vast and wonderful library. Who has 
computed the number and variety of the editions of 
his plays ? And yet new ones are constantly coming 
forth. In every direction the antiquarians are delving 



The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountai?i. 143 

for some new facts which might throw a Hght, if 
only a single gleam, upon the history of this bewil- 
dering genius. At the smallest discovery, or even 
shred of evidence that leads to an inference, the 
world pauses in its work and listens all agog. 

'* The Stratford ceremonies were in every way in- 
teresting. Mr. Childs, in presenting the beautiful 
fountain to the town, only did what many others 
would like to have done. Some other object he 
might have offered — there are many ways in which 
his admiration for the poet might have expressed 
itself; but, after all, as Mr. Irving remarked, there 
seems something particularly appropriate in the 
fountain which has been erected in the middle of the 
quaint old town, for the use of all, and for beast as 
well as man. 

" The occasion was altogether one of which 
Americans may be as proud as Mr. Childs must 
be. As Irving remarked, it is the Americans who 
have always been foremost in making pilgrimages 
and paying tributes to the Stratford poet. Mr. 
Childs has done many things to show the exalted 
character of his mind and his goodness of heart, 
and it seems that he could not rest until he had 
made a gift of this beautiful fountain — according to 
all accounts, one of the most artistic in the world — to 



144 The Stratford-Mpon-Avon Fountain. 

the memory of Shakspeare. The day was a lovely 
one, and everything connected with the ceremonies 
passed off in the most complete and satisfactory 
manner." 



WILLIAM WINTER, POET AND DRAMATIC CRITIC, 
TELLS THE STORY OF THE FOUNTAIN. 

No one, however, has more pleasantly told the 
story of the Fountain than has Mr. William Winter, 
the poet, journalist, and critic. His sympathy with 
the purpose of the giver of the Memorial is as 
broad as his reverent love for Shakspeare is pro- 
found, and to both which sympathy and love he 
has borne testimony in books, essays, poems, 
letters, and criticisms. He is one of the most 
brilliant of American writers, and one whose 
audience, while always large, is always fit. * Har- 
per's Weekly' of October 22, 1887, published an 
excellent illustration of the Stratford Fountain, 
accompanied by a characteristic sketch by Mr. 
Winter which cannot without impairing its fair 
symmetry be curtailed. Mr. Winter said : — 

''American interest in Stratford-upon-Avon 
springs out of a love for the works of Shakspeare 
as profound and passionate as that of the most sen- 



The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 145 

sitive and reverent of the poet's own countrymen. 
It was the father of American Hterature — Wash- 
ington Irving — who in modern times made the 
first pilgrimage to that Holy Land, and set the 
good example, which since has been followed by 
thousands, of worship at the shrine of Shakspeare. 
It was an American — the alert and expeditious 
Mr. Barnum — who, by suddenly proposing to buy 
the Shakspeare cottage and transfer it to America, 
frightened the English into buying it as a treasure 
for the nation. It is in part to Americans that Strat- 
ford owes the picturesque and useful Shakspeare 
Memorial; for, while the land on which it stands 
was given by that liberal and public-spirited citizen 
of Stratford, Mr. Charles Edward Flower — a kindly 
gentleman and a sound and fine Shakspeare scholar, 
as his acting edition of eighteen of the plays may 
testify — and while money to pay for the building of 
it was freely contributed by rich residents of War- 
Avickshire and by men of all ranks throughout the 
kingdom, the gifts and labors of Americans were 
not lacking to that good cause. Edwin Booth was 
one of the earliest contributors to the Memorial 
Fund. The names of Mr. Herman Vezin, Mr. M. 
D. Conway, Mr. W. H. Reynolds, Mrs. Bateman, 
and Mrs. Louise Chandler Moulton appear in the 



10 



146 The Stratford-upon-Avon tountain. 

first list of its subscribers. Miss Kate Field worked 
for its advancement with remarkable energy and 
practical success. Miss Mary Anderson acted for 
its benefit, on August 29, 1885, giving in its own 
theatre the first performance of Rosalind that she 
ever gave, and, like Edwin Booth, she is now 
one of the Governors of the Shakspeare Memorial 
Association. In the Church of the Holy Trinity, 
on the brink of the lovely Avon, where Shakspeare's 
dust is buried, a beautiful stained window, illustra- 
tive, by Scriptural symbols, of that solemn epitome 
of human life which the poet gives in the speech of 
Jaques on the seven ages of man, evinces the prac- 
tical devotion of the American pilgrim ; and this 
assuredly thrills his heart with reverent joy when he 
sees the soft light, streaming through its pictured 
panes, fall gently on the poet's grave. 

*' Wherever in Stratford you come upon anything 
that was ever associated, even remotely, with the 
name and fame of Shakspeare, there you will surely 
find the gracious tokens of American homage. 
The libraries of the birthplace and of the Memo- 
rial contain gifts of American books. New Place 
and Anne Hathaway's Cottage are never omit- 
ted from the American traveller's round of visi- 
tations and duty of practical tribute. The Falcon, 



The Stratford-upon-Avon FoiL7itain. 147 

with its store of relics, including the oak wainscot, 
that were in the parlor of the place when Shaks- 
peare owned it ; the romantic Shakspeare Inn, with 
its rambling passages, its quaint rooms named after 
Shakspeare's characters, its antique bar parlor, and 
Mrs. Justin's fine collection of autographs and pic- 
tures ; the Grammar School, in which it is likely 
that the poet, ' with shining morning face' of boy- 
hood, was once a pupil ; the Town Hall, adorned 
with Gainsborough's eloquent portrait of Garrick to 
which no engraving does justice; the Guild Chapel; 
the Clopton Bridge ; the Old Mill ; the foot-path 
across fields and roads to Shottery, bosomed in 
great elms ; and the ancient house of many gables, 
four miles away, at Wilmcote, which was the home 
of Mary Arden, Shakspeare's mother — each of these 
storied places receives in turn the tribute of the 
wandering American, and each repays him a hun- 
dredfold in charming suggestiveness of association, 
in high thought, and in the lasting impulse of sweet 
and soothing poetic reverie. At the Red Horse Inn, 
where Mr. Colbourne maintains all the traditions of 
old-fashioned English hospitality, he finds his home, 
well pleased to sit and dream in Washington Irving's 
parlor, while the night deepens and the clock in the 
distant tower murmurs drowsily in its sleep. Those 



148 The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 

who will may mock at his enthusiasm. He would 
not feel it but for the spell that Shakspeare's genius 
has cast upon the world. He ought to be glad and 
grateful that he can feel that spell ; and since he 
does feel it nothing could be more natural than his 
desire to signify that he too, though born far away 
from the old hom^e of his race and separated from 
it by three thousand miles of stormy ocean, has still 
his part in the divine legacy of Shakspeare, the 
treasure and the glory of the English tongue. 

'*A noble token of this American sentiment 
and a permanent object of patriotic interest to the 
pilgrim in Stratford is supplied by the Jubilee 
gift of a Drinking Fountain, made to that city by 
George W. Childs, of Philadelphia. It never is a 
surprise to hear of some new instance of that good 
man's constant activity and splendid generosity 
in good works : it is only an accustomed pleasure. 
With fine-art testimonials in the Old World as well 
as at home his name will always be honorably asso- 
ciated. A few years ago he presented a superb 
Window of stained glass to Westminster Abbey, to 
commemorate in the Poet's Corner George Herbert 
and William Cowper. He has shice given to St. 
Margaret's Church, Westminster, where Skelton and 
Sir James H^arrington (161 1-1677) were entombed, 



The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 149 

and where was buried the headless body of Sir Wal- 
ter Raleigh, a pictorial Window commemorative of 
John Milton. His Fountain at Stratford was dedi- 
cated on October 17th, 1887, with appropriate cere- 
monies conducted by the city's Mayor, Sir Arthur 
Hodgson, of Clopton Hall, and amid general re- 
joicing. The countrymen of Mr. Childs are not 
less interested in this structure than the commu- 
nity that it was intended to honor and benefit. 
They observe with satisfaction and pride that he 
has made this beneficent, beautiful, and opulent 
offering to a town which for all of them is hallowed 
by exalted associations, and for many of them is 
endeared by delightful memories. They sympathize 
also' with the motive and feeling that prompted 
him to offer his gift as one among many memorials 
of the fiftieth year of the reign of Queen Victoria. 
It is not every man who knows how to give with 
grace, and the good deed is * done double' that is 
done at the right time. Stratford had long been in 
need of such a fountain as Mr. Childs has given, 
and therefore it satisfies a public want, at the same 
time that it serves a purpose of ornamentation and 
bespeaks and strengthens a bond of international 
sympathy. Rother Square, in which the structure 
stands, is the most considerable open tract in Strat- 



150 The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 

ford, and is situated near to the centre of the town, 
on the west side. There, as also at the intersection 
of High and Bridge streets, which are the principal 
thoroughfares of the city, the farmers, at stated in- 
tervals, range their beasts and wagons and hold a 
market. It is easy to foresee that Rother Square, as 
now embellished with this superb monument, which 
combines a convenient clock-tower, a place of rest 
and refreshment for man, commodious drinking 
troughs for horses, cattle, dogs, and sheep, will 
become the agricultural centre of the region. 

" The base of the monument is made of Peter- 
head granite ; the superstructure is of gray stone 
— from Bolton, Yorkshire. The height of the 
tower is sixty feet. On the north side a stream 
of water flowing from a bronze spout falls into a 
polished granite basin. On the south side a door 
opens into the interior. The decorations include 
sculptures of the arms of Great Britain alternated 
with the eagle and stripes of the American Republic. 
In the second story of the tower, lighted by glazed 
arches, is placed an illuminated clock, and on the 
outward faces of the third story appear four dials. 
There are four turrets surrounding a central spire, 
each surmounted with a gilded vane. The inscrip- 
tions at the base are these : 



The Stratford-tt poll- Avon Foimtatn. 151 



I. 

* The gift of an American citizen, George W. Childs, of 
Philadelphia, to the town of Shakspeare, in the 
Jubilee Year of Queen Victoria.' 

II. 

* In her days every man shall eat, in safety 
Under his own vine, what he plants ; and sing 
The merry songs of peace to all his neighbors. 
God shall be truly known : and those about her 
From her shall read the perfect ways of honor. 
And by those claim their greatness, not by blood. 
Henry VIIL, Act V., Scene IV.' 

III. 

' Honest water, which ne'er left man i' the mire. 

Timon of A/hens, Act I., Scene II.' 

IV. 

' Ten thousand honors and blessings on the bard who 
has gilded the dull realities of life with innocent illu- 
sions. — Washington Irving' s Stratford-upon-Avon.'' 

" Stratford-upon-Avon, fortunate in many things, 
is especially fortunate in being situated at a consider- 
able distance from the main line of any railway. 
Two railroads indeed skirt the town, but both are 
branches, and travel upon them has not yet become 



152 The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 

too frequent, Stratford, therefore, still retains a 
measure of its ancient isolation and consequently of 
its quaintness. Antique customs are still prevalent 
there and odd characters may still be encountered. 
The current of village gossip flows with incessant 
vigor, and nothing happens in the place that is not 
thoroughly discussed. An event so important as 
the establishment of this American Fountain has of 
course excited great interest throughout Warwick- 
shire. It would be pleasant to hear the talk of those 
old cronies who drift into the bar-parlor of the Red 
Horse Hotel, on a Saturday evening — the learned 
Guppy, resting from the labors of Her Majesty's 
Post-office ; the genial Cole, fresh from his auc- 
tioneer's pulpit ; the aristocratic Vet, whose visage 
so plainly manifests his noble origin ; and Richard 
Savage, scholar and antiquary — as they comment on 
the liberal American whose generosity has thus en- 
riched and beautified their town. This Red Horse 
circle is but one of many in which the name of 
George W. Childs is spoken with esteem and cher- 
ished with affection. The present writer has made 
many visits to Stratford and has passed much time 
there, and he has observed on many occasions the 
admiration and gratitude of the Warwickshire people 
for the American philanthropist. In the library of 



The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 153 

Charles Edward Flower at Avonbank, in the gardens 
of Edgar Flower on the Hill, in the lovely home of 
Alderman Bird, at the table of Sir Arthur Hodgson 
in Clopton Hall, and in many other representative 
places, he has heard that name spoken, and always 
with delight and honor. Time will only deepen and 
widen the loving respect with which it is hallowed. 
In England, more than anywhere else on earth, the 
record of good deeds is made permanent, not alone 
with imperishable symbols, but in the hearts of the 
people. The inhabitants of Warwickshire, guarding 
and maintaining their Stratford Fountain, will never 
forget by whom it was given. Wherever you go in 
the British islands you find memorials of the Poet 
and of individuals who have done good in their 
time, and you find that these memorials are re- 
spected and preserved. Warwickshire abounds with 
them. One of the most conspicuous objects in the 
landscape as you draw near to Stratford is the mono- 
lith on Welcombe Hill that commemorates the vir- 
tues and public services of Mark Phillips — long a 
member of Parliament for Manchester — and the 
abiding fraternal love that caused it to be placed. 
Welcombe Manor-house stands on the site of the 
hall that was the residence of Shakspeare's friend, 
John-a-Combe. On the road from Stratford to 



154 The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 

Warwick the traveller passes near to one of the 
loveliest churches in all that region, a costly edifice 
commemorative of the late Miss Rylander, whose 
whole life was passed in doing good. At Leaming- 
ton they have even erected a monument, in a pubHc 
square containing many superb trees, to honor the 
worthy citizen and his wife by whose munificence 
those trees were preserved. Many such memorials 
might be indicated. Each one of them takes its 
place in the regard, and gradually becomes entwined 
with the experience, of the whole community. So it 
will be with the Childs Fountain at Stratford. The 
children trooping home from school will drink of it 
and sport in its shadow, and reading upon its base 
the name of its founder will think with pleasure of a 
good man's gift. It lies directly in the track of travel 
between Banbury and Birmingham, and many weary 
men and horses will pause beside it every day for a 
moment of rest and refreshment. On festival days 
it will be hung with garlands, while all around it the 
air is glad with music. And often in the long, sweet 
gloaming of the summer times to come the rower on 
the limpid river Avon that murmurs by the ancient 
town of Shakspeare will pause with suspended oar 
to hear its silver chimes. If the founder of this 



The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 155 

Fountain had been capable of a selfish thought, he 
could have taken no way better or more certain 
than this for the perpetuation of his own name 
in the affectionate esteem of one of the loveliest 
places and one of the most refined communities in 
the world. 

" The autumn in England is well advanced, and all 
the country ways of lovely Warwickshire are strewn 
with fallen leaves. But the cool winds of October are 
sweet and bracing, the dark waters of the Avon, shim- 
mering in mellow sunlight and frequent shadow, flow 
gently past the hallowed church, and the reaped and 
gleaned and empty meadows invite to many a health- 
ful ramble far and wide over the country of Shaks- 
peare. It is a good time to be there. Now will the 
robust pedestrian make his jaunt to Charlecote Park 
and Hampton Lucy, to Stoneleigh Abbey, to Warwick 
and Kenilworth, to Guy's Cliff, with its weird avenue 
of semi-blasted trees, to the Blacklow Hill, where 
sometimes at still midnight the shuddering peasant 
hears the ghostly funeral bell of Sir Piers Gaveston 
sounding ruefully from out the black and gloomy 
woods, and to many another historic haunt and high 
poetic shrine. All the country-side is full of storied 
resorts and cozy nooks and comfortable inns. But 



156 The Stratford-upon-Avofi Fountain. 

neither now nor hereafter will it be otherwise 
than grateful and touching to such an explorer of 
haunted Warwickshire to see, among the emblems 
of poetry and romance which are its chief glory, 
this new token of American sentiment and friend- 
ship, the Drinking Fountain of Stratford, the gift 
of George W. Childs. 

"WILLIAM WINTER." 

I know of no words which have been spoken 
to show the reason for the good-will that should 
forever be maintained by the people of England and 
America, each for the other, which more clearly 
exhibit it, than those of " Honest John Bright," 
who, in the dark days of the Republic's struggle for 
life, speaking in 1864 to a great multitude of his 
countrymen in the city of London, asked them : 
" Can we forget that, after all, we are one nation, 
having two governments ; that we are the same 
noble and heroic race ; that half the English family 
is on this side of the Atlantic, in its ancient home, 
and the other half — there being no room for them 
here — is settled on the American continent?" 

The spirit of the question asked by the Great 
Commoner, and which inspired him to sympathize 



The Stratford-upon-Avon Fountain. 157 

with this government of the people, for the people, 
and by the people, is the very sentient one which 
inspired Mr. Childs to erect on Avon's bank the 
Fountain to Shakspeare — and to set up elsewhere 
in England's sacred shrines other fit memorials to 
venerable British worthies — the story of which is 
herein told. 




THE HERBERT AND COWPER MEMORIAL 



IN 



WESTMINSTER ABBEY. 




6>^< 



THE HERBERT AND COWPER MEMORIAL 
IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY. 




HAT which came next in his love for his 
holy office to Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, 
D.D., Dean of Westminster, was the 
Abbey, the story of which he has so fully and 
pleasantly told in his " Historical Memorials." The 
first chapter of this scholarly work, which he 
wrought out to so noble a conclusion, has the 
following introduction, copied from a contempo- 
raneous biography of Edward the Confessor in a 
Harleian manuscript: "The Foundation of West- 
minster Abbey. The devout King destined to God 
that place, both for that it was near unto the famous 
and wealthy City of London, and also had a pleasant 
situation amongst fruitful fields lying round about it, 
with the principal river running hard by, bringing it 

II i6i 



1 62 The Herbert and Cowper Memorial. 

from all parts of the world great variety of wares 
and merchandise of all sorts to the city adjoining ; 
but chiefly for the love of the Chief Apostle, whom 
he reverenced with a special and singular affection." 

Dean Stanley never spoke of the Abbey save with 
the tenderest, most reverential feeling. He knew all 
that could be known about it — its foundation, its 
growth, its legendary and historical origin; its relics, 
its tombs, its shrines, its chapels, its transepts, its 
cloisters, and its illustrious dead. For years he had 
moved and had his being among them. Through 
them he lived in all times of England's triumphs 
and defeats. To his broad and all-embracing mind 
there was no difference between the ashes lying 
there of the courtly nobles of Charles I. and those 
of the rude Titans of the Commonwealth. It was 
this feeHng which enabled him to say, in Chapter IV. 
of his *' Memorials" : — 

" Of all the characteristics of Westminster Abbey 
that which most endears it to the nation and gives 
most force to its name — which has, more than any- 
thing else, made it the home of the people of Eng- 
land and the most venerated fabric of the English 
Church^-is not so much its glory as the seat of the 
coronations or as the sepulchre of the kings ; not so 
much its school, or its monastery, or its chapter, or 



The Herbert and Cowper Memorial. 163 

its sanctuary, as the fact that it is the resting-place 
of famous Enghshmen, from every rank and creed 
and every form of mind and genius. It is not only 
Rheims Cathedral and St. Denys both in one, but 
it is also what the Pantheon was intended to be to 
France — what the Valhalla is to Germany — what 
Santa Croce is to Italy. It is this aspect which, 
more than any other, won for it the delightful visits 
of Addison in the 'Spectator,' of Steele in the 'Tat- 
ler,' of Goldsmith in ' The Citizen of the World,' of 
Charles Lamb in * Elia,' of Washington Irving in 
•The Sketch Book.' It is this which inspired the 
saying of Nelson, * A Peerage — or Westminster 
Abbey!' and which has intertwined it with so many 
eloquent passages of Macaulay. It is this which 
gives point to the allusions of recent statesmen least 
inclined to draw illustrations from ecclesiastical build- 
ings. It is this which gives most promise of vitality 
to the whole institution. Kings are no longer buried 
within its walls ; even the splendor of pageants has 
ceased to attract; but the desire to be interred in 
Westminster Abbey is still as strong as ever." 

Nowhere in his story of the famous Abbey does 
the erudite Dean exhibit so much feeling in the 
telling of it as in that part which has to do with 
the great dead poets of England. The historian 



164 The Herbert and Cowper Memorial. 

lingers long and fondly in the * Poet's Corner;' for, 
though they all lie not there, monuments are therein 
erected to the memory of Chaucer, Spenser, Shaks- 
peare, Drayton, Ben Jonson, Ayton, Davenant, Cow- 
ley, Dryden, Milton, Butler, Rowe, Steele, Addi- 
son, Congreve, Prior, Gay, Pope, Thomson, and 
Gray. 

Dean Stanley's cultivated and refined mind sympa- 
thized profoundly with the men of genius who, 
through recurring ages, have by their so potent art 
made glorious the Literature of England, and pro- 
bably with no others more than with these two, 
among the greatest and sweetest singers of them 
all — the Christian Poets, Herbert and Cowper — to 
whose genius there had been no memorials set up in 
the Abbey, though it was long his most ardent wish 
there should be. Among those to whom Dean 
Stanley communicated his desire was his friend, 
Mr. George W. Childs, of Philadelphia, and with 
what sequence is thus briefly told by the Rev. Alex- 
ander B. Grosart, in a note to his complete works 
of George Herbert, printed for private circulation 
only : " To the praise of George W. Childs, Esq., 
of Philadelphia, U. S. A., be it recorded that, on 
learning the wish of the Dean of Westminster and 
others to place a Memorial Window in our great 



The Herbert and Cowper Memorial. 165 

Abbey, in honor of George Herbert and William 
Cowper, as Westminster school boys, he spontane- 
ously and large-heartedly expressed his readiness 
to furnish such a Window at his own cost. The 
generous offer was cordially accepted." 

Mr. Childs was almost as well known in England 
as in America. His ''House Beautiful" in Philadel^- 
phia had long been famed as the home of the most 
splendid and refined hospitality which had been 
gratefully enjoyed by many of the most distin- 
guished Englishmen visiting America. Among 
them was the Very Rev., learned, and good Dr. 
Stanley, Dean of Westminster. In a sermon preached 
in St. James's P. ¥.. Church, Philadelphia, on the 
morning of September 29, 1878, the Dean, then the 
guest of Mr. Childs, said : — ■ 

'' It has been one happy characteristic of the 
Church of England that it has retained both sides 
of the Christian character within its pale. There 
is in Westminster Abbey a Window dear to Ameri- 
can hearts, because erected by an honored citizen of 
Philadelphia, in which these two elements are pre- 
sented side by side. On the one hand, the sacred 
poet most cherished by the ecclesiastical, royalist, 
priest-like phase of the Church, George Herbert; 
on the other hand, the sacred poet most cherished 



1 66 The Herbert and Cow per Memorial. 

by the Puritan, austere, lay phase of the Church, 
Wilham Cowper. That diversity is an example of 
the way in which God's will is wrought on earth 
as it is in heaven. I have said that we do not 
speculate on the names or natures of angels, yet 
as symbols and outlines of the divine operations 
yiey may be most useful to us. In the rabbinical 
and medieval theology this diversity used to be 
represented by the manifold titles of the various 
principalities and powers. Most of these have now 
dropped out of use; but there are some few which, 
either from their mention in the biblical or the 
apocryphal books, or from the transfiguring hand 
of artistic or poetic genius, have survived," 

The Window dedicated to Herbert and Cowper, 
which has become one of the conspicuous Memorials 
of Westminster Abbey, owes its place there to the 
strong and abiding love which this great English 
divine had for this country, and to Mr. Childs's 
recognition of the fraternity of feeling which nature 
has planted deep in the hearts of Englishmen and 
Americans. 

In concluding a most appreciative and graceful 
tribute to the character of Dean Stanley, then lately 
gone to his reward, the Public Ledger, on the 20th of 
July, 1 88 1, said: "He believed in a National Church, 



The Herbert and Cowper Memorial. 167 

but his Anglicanism reached across the water, and 
he was fonder and more appreciative of this coun- 
try than many a citizen of the United States. Free- 
dom and reverence, peace born of struggle, and faith 
in justice worth hard knocks, the charity that comes 
of knowledge, not of indifference, a prayer ' that we 
may not be persecutors,' a creed like the rainbow, 
that spanned from the horizon to the zenith — these 
were the rich gifts of Stanley's mind, and his legacy 
to the world are his twin beliefs in unswerving law 
and all-surrounding love." It was out of his love 
for the people of the United States — and of his 
perception of the common bonds that bound and 
made them one with Englishmen — that the Herbert 
and Cowper Memorial grew. There was, at the 
time the request for the Window was made and 
freely responded to, the same thought in the minds 
of both Dean Stanley and Mr. George W. Childs — 
the thought that, if there were set up in the vene- 
rable Abbey, the last -resting-place of so many 
eminent Englishmen, a Memorial to those great 
worthies, Herbert and Cowper, by an American 
citizen, who was indisputably a representative of 
American thought and feeling, it would be, so long 
as time spared that ancient edifice, a token of the 
cordial sympathy existing between the two countries. 



1 68 The Herbert mid Cowper Memorial. 



THE SHARE OF AMERICA IN WESTMINSTER 
ABBEY. 

When in 1867 Sir Charles Wentworth Dilke had 
finished the story of his travels through the British 
Colonies and the United States, he could find no 
title so fit for his attractive work as that of 
" Greater Britain," He saw, during his protracted 
visit to this country, only his own country magni- 
fied in area, population, wealth, and greatness. He 
found here the same manners and customs as those of 
his own land ; here he also found the same language, 
the same political institutions, the same literature, 
the same art, the same science, the same religion. 
He was quick to perceive that they of Old England 
and of New England, of Great Britain and the 
United States, were one people in their love of vir- 
tue, freedom, intelligence, courage, and in their vast, 
far-reaching enterprise. The broad ocean separated 
them ; prejudices, growing out of misunderstandings, 
had sometimes caused them often to look askance 
at each other, to regard each other with distrust. 
But, despite all prejudices and misunderstandings, 
they were and are as one in all that proclaims the 
identity of the same people, though living apart. 



The Herbert and Cow per Memorial. 169 

This thought or sentiment, it need not be said, is 
not a new one, but as old, at least, in the minds of 
Englishmen and Americans as was the Mayflower 
on the day there passed over her side to Plymouth 
Rock the Pilgrim Fathers. But again, and a 
thousand times again, has it been newly formulated, 
and most eloquently, by that learned and devout 
scholar, F. W. Farrar, D. D., Archdeacon of West- 
minster, in a paper of great international interest 
and attractiveness contributed by him to ' Harper's 
Magazine' of January, 1888, which bears the title of 
"The Share of America in Westminster Abbey." 

The Venerable Archdeacon, whose fame for piety 
and learning is as great in this country as in his 
own, begins his brilliant paper with the words fol- 
lowing : — 

*' Westminster Abbey is most frequently entered 
by the great northern door, usually known as Solo- 
mon's Porch, now in course of a splendid restoration, 
which will soon be completed. I will, however, ask 
the courteous American visitor to walk through St. 
Margaret's Church-yard, and round the western 
facade of the Abbey, and to enter by the door 
under Sir Christopher Wren's towers, opposite the 
memorial raised by Westminster scholars to their 



I/O The Herbert and Cow per Memorial. 

school-fellows who died in the Crimean war. Pass 
through the western door, and pause for a moment 

' Where bubbles burst, and folly's dancing foam 
Melts if it cross the threshold.'. 

Of all the glory of this symbolic architecture, of the 
awe-inspiring grandeur and beauty of this great 
Minster, which makes us feel at once that 

' They dreamt not of a perishable home 
Who thus could build,' 

how much may be claimed in part by America ? 

♦' In one sense all of it which belongs to the epoch 
which elapsed between the age of Edward the Con- 
fessor and the disastrous days of Charles I. and 
Archbishop Laud. An English writer who lives in 
America has said that * in signing away his own 
empire George III. did not sign away the empire of 
English liberty, of English law, of English literature, 
of English blood, of English rehgion, or of the Eng- 
lish tongue.' Americans enjoy, no less than we, the 
benefit of the Great Charter, the Petition of Right, 
the Habeas Corpus Act. They need not go back 
for their history to Indian annals or Icelandic sagas. 
Theirs are the palaces of the Plantagenets, the cathe- 
drals which enshrine our old religion, the illustrious 
Hall in which the long line of our great judges 



The Herbert and Cowper Memorial. 171 

reared by their decisions the fabric of our law, the 
gray colleges in which our intellect and science 
found their earliest home, the graves where our 
heroes and sages and poets sleep. Indeed, I have 
understated their share in the Abbey. It reaches 
down, not only to the days of the Pilgrim Fathers, 
but to the War of Independence. Chatham and 
Burke and Barre as well as Patrick Henry advo- 
cated the American cause, which engaged the sym- 
pathy of the great mass of Englishmen, if not that 
of Grenville and North." 

The recognition both by Dean Stanley and by 
Mr. Childs of the truth of that which Archdeacon 
Farrar so eloquently said had been previously 
demonstrated by the setting up in the ancient 
Abbey of the Memorial to Herbert and Cowper 
of which, in the above-quoted paper. Archdeacon 
Farrar says, after referring to the monuments to 
Kingsley and Craggs: "There are two other memo- 
rials which combine with these to give to this 
spot in the Abbey the name of the 'Little Poets' 
Corner.' They are the stained glass Windows in 
memory of George Herbert and William Cowper. 
They belong entirely to America, for they are the 
gift of an American citizen, my honored friend, 
Mr. George William Childs, of Philadelphia. In 



1/2 The Herbert and Cow per Memorial. 

the stained glass are the effigies of the two poets. 
Both of them were Westminster boys, and the most 
beautiful representatives of all that is holy in two 
very opposite schools of religious thought. It was a 
happy inspiration which suggested the erection of 
this Window. George Herbert and W^illiam Cowper 
were well deserving of Memorials' in the Abbey, 
apart from the fact that they had so often played 
in its cloisters and worshiped in its choir. The 
combination of the two suggests the higher unity 
which reconciles all minor points of ecclesiastical 
difference." 

HERBERT. 

Gentle Izaak Walton concluded the remarkable 
sketch of the life of the pious scholar and poet, 
George Herbert, which is one of the noblest orna- 
ments of our literature, in these words: "Thus he 
lived, and thus he died like a saint, unspotted of the 
world, full of alms-deeds, full of humility, and all the 
examples of a virtuous life; which I cannot conclude 
better than with this borrowed observation : — 

" ' All must to their cold graves ; 
But the religious actions of the just 
Smell sweet in death, and blossom in the dust.' 



The Herbert and Cowper Memorial. 173 

" Mr. George Herbert's have done so to this, and 
will doubtless do so to succeeding generations. I 
have but this to say more of him, that if Andrew 
Melville died before him, then George Herbert died 
without an enemy. I wish (if God be so pleased) 
that I may be so happy as to die hke him." 

In the estimation of those of wisest censure there 
are none of the old English Divines or sacred poets 
whose fame is more deserved, or who are more 
reverenced by those who speak the language in 
which the "holy Herbert" gave his writings, in prose 
and verse, to the world. 



COWPER. 

On the long roll of England's distinguished men 
of letters there are few names which shine with so 
strong, steady, and enduring a light as that of 
William Cowper. There has been no lessening of 
his great fame with the passing of time ; it was long 
ago conceded that by his poems he had not only 
raised '*to himself an imperishable name," but that 
he had added enduring beauty to the English lan- 
guage. His is a name which is not only reverently 
cherished in the affections, but which appeals to the 



174 ^^^ Herbert and Cowper Memorial. 

best thought, high conscience, and lofty sentiment 
of all men of noble mind. 

When Mr. Childs undertook the fulfilment of the 
desire of his friend, the Very Rev. Dean of Westmin- 
ster, to set up the Memorial Window in the Abbey 
to Herbert and Cowper, the same thought inspired 
them both — the thought that if the object were ac- 
complished by an American it would be accepted 
by every Englishman as a tribute of brothers to 
brothers. The works of these sacred singers live 
after them in the love and admiration of all 
English-speaking peoples, and nowhere more truly 
than among the people of this broad land. The 
Window of Westminster, though the munificent 
gift of but one of them, represents the common 
reverence for the great poet of all Americans of 
gentle, pious feeling, as his songs were sung for 
those of all lands of refined natures and devout 
aspirations. 



STANLEY. 

DEAN STANLEY'S STORY OF THE WINDOWS. 

In * Sunday at Home,' a magazine of high char- 
acter, published in London (in the number for June, 



The Herbert and Cowper Memorial. 175 

'^'^77)j there appeared, as a frontispiece, a colored 
illustration of the Herbert and Cowper Memorial 
Window, with reference to which Dean Stanley 
contributed the following explanatory note : — 

" The southwest corner of the Abbey — once the 
Abbot's private chapel, then the Baptistery, and now 
the Lay Clerks' vestry — was selected some twenty 
years ago as the place for the erection of the statue 
of the poet Wordsworth, probably in connection with 
the font. Within the last ten years the present Dean 
resolved to make it a Second Poet's Corner — chiefly 
for sacred poets — in order to relieve the great pressure 
on the South transept. Accordingly, when a munifi- 
cent admirer of Keble — the late Hon. Edward Twis- 
tleton — wished to place a bust of the poet in the 
Abbey, the arch next to Wordsworth was chosen for 
it. Since that time Maurice, the theologian, and 
Kingsley, theologian, novelist, but chiefly poet, have 
followed. Their busts are on each side of Craggs, 
the friend of Pope and Addison. 

" When Mr. George W. Childs, of Philadelphia, 
with truly American generosity, most generously 
complied with my request that he should give a 
Window of stained glass, it was suggested to him 
that it should be placed in this chapel, and com- 
memorate George Herbert and William Cowper — 



1/6 The Herbert and Cowper Memorial. 

both religious poets, both Westminster scholars — 
and especially two opposite poles of the English 
Church — George Herbert, the 'ecclesiastical,' and 
William Cowper, the ' evangelical,' tendency. In 
the Window, Herbert is represented in his clerical 
vesture, standing by his Church porch, and the lines 
underneath are taken from the introduction to his 
poems, and (in reference to the Baptistery, or the 
entrance to the Abbey) touch at the start on the 
Christian life. Cowper, on the other side, is in his 
well-known cap and dressing-gown, in the neighbor- 
hood of Olney, with his hares in the garden, looking 
at his 'Mother's Picture,' from which poem are taken 
the lines which are also appropriate to the associa- 
tions of the Baptistery. The heraldic devices above 
represent their respective families — both, as it hap- 
pens, great in the English aristocracy." 

The editor of ' Sunday at Home' added to the good 
Dean's note that "■ it was a happy thought of Dean 
Stanley to associate the names in the Memorial, and 
the gift of the Window was a fitting and graceful 
tribute from an American citizen in the Centennial 
Year of Independence." 



The Herbert and Cowper Memorial. 177 



THE ABBEY A BOND OF UNION. 

From a private letter to Mr. Childs written 
by a distinguished man of letters in England, and 
referring to the death of Dean Stanley, the following 
interesting extracts are made : " The good Dean 
valued your friendship deeply, and I have often 
heard him speak with enthusiasm of your affection 
for England and the Abbey, and the munificently 
splendid way in which you showed it. I have no 
doubt that the recollection by you of the truly kind 
and genial reception which you gave him in Phila- 
delphia will remain with you as one of the brightest 
incidents of your life." The writer, referring to Dr. 
Bradley, who succeeded Dr. Stanley as Dean of 
Westminster, says : '' He is a man who will not fail 
to carry on the work at Westminster thoroughly in 
the Stanleyian spirit, though, of course, no one can 
rival our dear Dean in gifts and energy. But you 
and all Stanley's American friends may rest assured 
that the tradition which you have all associated with 
the Abbey for so many years will still be maintained, 
and that the Abbey will remain during Bradley's 
deanery a bond of union between the two countries 

as it was in Stanley's time." 
12 



1/8 The Herbert and Cow per Memorial. 



A REMINDER OF HOME. 

In W. W. Nevin's entertaining 'Vignettes of Travel' 
there occurs the following reference to Mr. Childs's 
gift to the Abbey : — 

" Passing from the ancient abbot's palace, now the 
dwelling of the Dean, by private entrance to the 
church, just before we entered the transept of the 
main building, Dean Stanley, to whom my presence 
started recollections of Philadelphia, said, 'Stop a 
moment; I want to show you something that will 
remind you of home,' and ascending by a side entry 
three narrow steps, into a little chapel shut off by an 
open railing from public entrance, we stood sud- 
denly before the handsome Memorial Window of 
Mr. Childs to the two English poets — a grand 
blaze of illumination, covering almost an entire wall 
of the chapel. It is a beautiful and costly work of 
art, in the conventional ecclesiastical style of glass- 
painting, rich and impressive. 

"It is the usage of the Abbey to inscribe on all 
monuments the incidents of their erection, but the 
story of this one is very simply and frankly told in 
a single line : * D. D.* Georgius Gulielmus Childs. 
Civis Americanus.' 

■^ Donum dedit. 



The Herbert and Cowper Memorial. 179 

" This is the first appearance of our country in the 
historic Abbey. There are a few other American 
names — some Royal refugees in the War of 1776- 
83, some colonial worthies, some British soldiers 
killed in the Revolution and French Wars; but this 
is the only description which distinctly places the 
new nation of ' The United States of America' in the 
monumental archives of Westminster." 



IMPRESSIONS OF AN AMERICAN VISITOR TO THE 

ABBE Y. 

Mr. Joel Cook, in his ejitertaining book, entitled 
* A HoHday Tour in Europe,' says, regarding the gift 
of Mr. Childs: «'The Memorial Window erected 
by Mr. George W. Childs is eagerly sought for by 
Americans visiting the Abbey. . . . Mr. Childs's 
gift is in two parts, or, as it were, two complete Win- 
dows, one in memory of Herbert and the other of 
Cowper. It is the extreme western window on the 
south side of the nave, and is in the Baptistery, 
somewhat secluded on account of the hieh tombs 
standing in front of it, and the stone arched railing 
separates the Baptistery from the nave, but pouring 
a rich flood of mellow light over them." 



THE MILTON WINDOW 



IN 



ST. MARGARET'S CHURCH, 
WESTMINSTER. 



THE MILTON WINDOW. 




HE gift by Mr. George W. Childs to St. 
Margaret's Church, Westminster, of the 
Memorial Window to Milton was made 
subsequently to that of the Fountain, commemo- 
rative of Shakspeare, at Stratford-upon-Avon, and 
was inspired by a letter to him from the Ven- 
erable Archdeacon Farrar, in which was regret- 
fully recited the absence of any appropriate me- 
morial in England to the great Cromwellian poet, 
except that erected in 1737 by Auditor Benson in 
Westminster Abbey. To this letter its recipient at 
once replied by offering to place in St. Margaret's 
Church, of which the Venerable Archdeacon is 
Rector, a window, the design of which should be 
determined wholly by the judgment of the latter, 
Mr. Childs's only request to his friend being that 

•83 



184 The Milton Window. 

he should undertake the setting up of a monument 
which should appropriately commemorate the virtues 
and genius of Milton, whose works are held in as 
great esteem, and whose memory is as profoundly 
reverenced in this country, as in that of his birth. 
The suggestion which came to Mr. Childs was in 
harmony with the sentiment which had induced the 
presentation of the Memorial of Herbert and Cowper 
in Westminster Abbey, and the Fountain at Stratford- 
upon-Avon of Shakspeare, which were to serve as a 
sign of the appreciation in America of the genius of 
the poets to whom they were dedicated, and to give 
assurance to the world of the warmth of the affection 
and the sincerity of the esteem existing in the United 
States for these great masters of English literature, 
who embellished and ennobled our common lan- 
guage by their contributions to it 



ST. MARGARET'S CHURCH. 

** London and Westminster," says old Heywood, 
"are two twin- sister cities, as joined by one street, 
so watered by one stream ; the first a breeder 
of grave magistrates ; the second the burial-place 
of great monarchs". St. Margaret's Church is in 



The Milton Windozv. 185 

Westminster, standing hard by the stately Abbey. 
The present sacred edifice indicates no earlier 
period of its existence than that of the reign of 
the Plantagenets ; but Mr. Mackenzie Walcott says 
of it : "■ There is, with the exception of the Abbey 
of St. Peter and St. Paul's Cathedral, no other 
ecclesiastical edifice throughout London and West- 
minster which can boast of a greater antiquity, 
or more interesting foundation," the original struc- 
ture dating, it is stated, from a few years before the 
Conquest. One story of its origin is to the effect 
that, *' Edward, the Confessor, finding, as was natu- 
ral, that a population was growing up around the 
Abbey walls, and was continually increased further 
by a miscellaneous crowd of persons, who, for good 
or for bad reasons, sought the shelter of the Sanctu- 
ary, raised here a church in the round-arched Saxon 
style, and dedicated it to St. Margaret." 

In the reign of Edward the First the edifice was 
almost wholly taken down and rebuilt. There are 
some notable tombs in St. Margaret's Church, 
among others that to William Caxton, "who, as 
early as the year 1477, set up a printing-press in 
the Abbey; there is also a mural tablet set up 
within which recites that Sir Walter Raleigh's body 



1 86 The Milton Window. 

was buried here on the day of his execution in 
Palace Yard." 

Until very recently the Speaker and the House of 
Commons were wont to attend at St. Margaret's 
Church upon the days of what were known as the 
"State Services." In 1858 these were, by an order 
in Council, stricken out of the Book of Common 
Prayer, and since then the Speaker has not appeared 
in St. Margaret's in his official wig and robes. 

In the year 1656 John Milton was married to his 
second wife, Catherine Woodcock, in St. Margaret's 
Church, and there he subsequently worshiped. 

It may be proper to note here that, as a token of 
the high appreciation of Mr. Childs's gift to St. 
Margaret's, there has been set apart in perpetuity in 
that sacred temple a pew for the exclusive use of 
Americans. 

It was in the latter part of 1886 that Archdeacon 
Farrar originally referred to the pitiful lack of im- 
posing monuments to the Poet Milton in England. 
It was then that he wrote the following lines, with 
which he concluded his interesting article entitled 
" The Share of America in Westminster Abbey," be- 
fore referred to in these pages, and which were pub- 
lished in ' Harper's Magazine' more than a year 
afterwards : — 



The Milton Window. 187 

" There are, perhaps, fewer memorials of Milton 
than of any Englishman of the same transcendent 
greatness. I am extremely desirous to erect a wor- 
thy Window in his honor in the Church of St. Mar- 
garet's, close beside the Abbey. Our register con- 
tains the record of his marriage to Catherine 
Woodcock, his second wife, in 1656, and also 
records, in the following year, her death and that 
of her infant daughter. It was to her that he ad- 
dressed the noble sonnet which begins : — 

' Methought I saw my late espoused saint 
Come to me like Alcestis from the grave.' 

Milton's connection with the Church of St. Mar- 
garet's was therefore very close, and if any of his 
American admirers are willing to assist me in my 
design, I shall on public grounds most heartily wel- 
come their munificence. They have already beau- 
tified this fine old historic Church by their splendid 
gift of a Window in honor of Sir Walter Raleigh, 
whose headless body lies under the altar. Milton 
has even higher claims on their gratitude and admi- 
ration." 

This, in effect, was the text of the letter which 
was written by the Venerable Archdeacon to Mr. 
Childs in November, 1886, and to which the 



1 88 The Mil ion Window. 

latter replied by offering to contribute such a me- 
morial as his friend should deem appropriate. 

The other letters which have come into the Edi- 
tor's possession having reference to the Milton 
Window are the following: the first is from Arch- 
deacon Farrar to Mr. Childs, dated at Dean's Yard, 
Westminster, London, February 4, 1887: — 

"My Dear Mr. Childs: — 

" I did not write at once to express my delight and 
heartfelt gratitude for your splendidly munificent 
offer in compliance with my suggestion of a Memorial 
to John Milton, because I wanted to give you full 
particulars. I did not say that Milton himself was 
buried at St. Margaret's, but that he was married in 
the Church, was closely connected with it through 
the Parliament (for it is and always has been the 
Church of the House of Commons), and that his 
dearest wife, the one to whom he wrote the im- 
mortal sonnet which begins — 

' Methought I saw my late espoused saint' — 

was buried in the Church, as was his child, wholly 
without memorial. The fact is that no man of his 
pure and noble genius is so wholly uncommemo- 
rated in England. There is a poor bust to him in 



The Milton Window. 189 

the Abbey, that is all For one hundred and fifty 
years after his death the Stuart reaction against 
Puritanism and the adoration of ' King Charles the 
Martyr' caused Milton's name to be execrated. 
But America is the glorious child of Puritanism ; and 
it is to me a most touching and significant fact that 
a Memorial to Milton in the Church of the House of 
Commons for which he so greatly labored should 
now be given by a descendant of the Pilgrim 
Fathers after I had tried in vain to get it from 
Englishmen. 

"But I could not write tiU I was able to inform you 
what the cost would be, nor shall I formally accept 
your generous offer until you have been informed of 
the cost and character of the proposed Window. 
The central compartments would illustrate scenes 
in the Life of Milton, the side compartments would 
contain scenes from the 'Paradise Lost.' The 
Window would be worthy of Milton, worthy of the 
church, and worthy of your munificence. 

'' I shall not set the artist to work till I receive 
your sanction in another letter. If you approve, I 
will have a fine design of the Window executed and 
sent to you. Mr. J. R. Lowell wrote the lines under 
the Raleigh Window in my church, and Lord Ten- 
nyson those under the Caxton Window. I would 



190 The Milton Window. 

get some great poet to write the lines under the 
inscription which would record, to all future time, 
your honor of the illustrious dead. 

'* I have of course not mentioned the matter 
publicly, nor will I do so till I receive the final 
notification of your gift. 

'< Most gratefully and sincerely yours, 

" F. W. FARRAR. 

" P. S. — Immediately after writing this letter I 
went to read prayers, and the lesson was the mes- 
sage to the Angel of the Church of Philadelphia." 

The following is Mr. Childs's reply to the fore- 



" Philadelphia, February 16, 1887. 
" My Dear Archdeacon Farrar : — 

" Your kind note is just received, and is most sat- 
isfactory. I have but one thought with regard to 
the Memorial, which is that I am particularly anxious 
yon should write the inscription. All other matters 
I leave to your taste and good judgment, but this 
one request I hope you will grant me. 

** With cordial regards, sincerely your friend, 

"GEO. W. CHILDS." 

Enclosed in the foregoing letter from Mr. Childs 



The Milton Window. 191 

was a draft for an amount covering the entire cost 
of the work. 

Writing to his friend from Dean's Yard, West- 
minster, London, on the 5th day of March follow- 
ing, Archdeacon Farrar said : — 

" My Dear Mr. Childs : — 

" How can I thank you warmly enough ? Your 

order for £ has reached me safely, and the 

Window, which will be a very beautiful one, will be 
at once proceeded with. Before long I hope to send 
you a painting of it which will show you how very 
beautiful it is likely to be. I need hardly say that, 
as you wish it, I will myself write the inscription, 
and, further, I shall record that it is the gift of the 
same noble munificence which has already enriched 
Westminster Abbey and Stratford-upon-Avon. 

" I wish that there were some chance of your 
seeing it ! Of course, it will take some months to 
finish, and may be you will have to come over to 
England some day, before or after the Memorial is 
set up. 

" You cannot tell how much I am pleased by the 
thought that one of the greatest, purest, and least 
commemorated of English poets should receive one 
more testimony to the immortal gratitude which is 



192 The Milton Window. 

his due, and that the Memorial to this mighty 
Puritan should come from the land of the Pilgrim 
Fathers, and be placed in the Church of the House 
of Commons, with which he was so closely con- 
nected. 

" Believe me to be, dear Mr. Childs, sincerely 
and gratefully, your friend, 

"F. W. FARRAR." 

On the 19th day of the same month Archdeacon 
Farrar again wrote to Mr. Childs, from Dean's 
Yard, Westminster, regarding the Window, as fol- 
lows : — 

" My Dear Mr. Childs :— 

" I hope, in the course of a few weeks, to send you 
a beautifully painted copy of the design for the great 
Milton Window which we owe to your munificence. 
When the design is completed, I shall publicly an- 
nounce your gift to the old historic church. The 
enclosed outline will give you a general conception 
of the mode of treatment. In the centre is Milton 
dictating to his daughter the 'Paradise Lost'; under- 
neath is a scene from his student-life, and his visit to 
Galileo. All around are scenes from * Paradise Lost' 
and ' Paradise Regained.' Above are the rejoicing 



The Milto7t Window, 193 

angels, and figures of Adam and of our Lord. It 

will be a very beautiful work of art, and an eternal 

monument to Milton's genius and your generosity. 

" Believe me to be, dear Mr. Childs, sincerely 

and gratefully your friend, ' 

"F. W. FARRAR." 



THE WINDOW UNVEILED. 

The gift of Mr. Childs was formally unveiled on 
the eighteenth day of February, 1888, an account 
of which was furnished by Archdeacon Farrar him- 
self in the following letter to the donor : — 

" 17 Dean's Yard, Westminster, S. W. 
"February i8, 1 888. 

" My Dear Mr. Childs : — 

" I have just returned from the unveiling of the 
Milton Window. I only invited a select number of 
friends. Among those present were the poets Mr. 
Robert Browning and Mr. Lewis Morris, among 
others Mr. Lecky, Mr. Courtney Herbert, Mr. and 
the Baroness Burdett-Coutts, the Speaker's family, 
the United States Minister and Mrs. Phelps, Pro- 
fessor and Mrs. Flower, Lord Stanley of Alderly, 
13 



194 The Milton Window. 

General Sir Edward Staveley, and other distin- 
guished personages. Mr. Matthew Arnold read a 
very fine paper on Milton, which is to be published 
in the * Century,' and which will, I am sure, please 
you very much. After the paper had been read in 
the Vestry we went into the Church and unveiled the 
Window. It is very fine in color and execution. 
In the centre is Milton dedicating to his daughters 
the * Paradise Lost ;' below is Milton as a boy at St. 
Paul's school, and Milton visiting Galileo. All 
round are scenes from the ' Paradise Lost' — Satan 
awaking his legion, Satan entering Paradise, the 
fall, and the expulsion from Eden. Above are four 
scenes from the ' Paradise Regained' — the nativity, the 
annunciation, the baptism of Christ, and the temp- 
tation in the wilderness. At the top are jubilant 
angels, and Adam and our Lord, the first and the 
second "Adam. In the course of next week I hope 
to send you the picture (colored) of the Window. 
Underneath is the inscription : 

* To the Glory of God, and in memory of the Immortal Poet, John 
Milton, whose wife and child lie buried here, this Window is dedi- 
cated by George W. Childs of Philadelphia, mdccclxxxviii.' 

" On the other side are Mr. Whittier's four fine 
lines. 

" So that now, my dear Mr. Childs, your noble 



The Milton Window. 195 

gift has come to fruitful completion, and in the 
Church of the House of Commons will be a lasting 
and beautiful Memorial both of the great poet and 
of your munificence. 

" It has carried out a wish which I long cherished. 
Heartfelt thanks! 

" I shall preach on Milton to-morrow, and I shall 
ask you to accept the MS. of the sermon. Pray 
give my kindest remembrances to Mrs. Childs, and 
believe me to be, 

" Yours, very sincerely and gratefully, 

" F. W. FARRAR." 

The selection of St. Margaret's Church was prob- 
ably due to the fact mentioned in this letter, that 
Milton's wife and child are buried there, and what 
more fitting memorial could there be than this of 
him who in his * II Penseroso' wrote of 

" Storied windows richly dight 
Casting a dim religious light" ? 



MATTHEW ARNOLD'S ADDRESS. 

The following is the complete text of the late 
Matthew Arnold's address, delivered in St. Mar- 
garet's Church, Westminster, on the 1 8th day of 



196 The Milton Window. 

February, 1888, on the occasion of the unveiling of 
the Memorial Window, being the same which is 
referred to by Archdeacon Farrar in the foregoing 
letter to Mr. Childs : — 

" The most eloquent voice of our century uttered, 
shortly before leaving the world, a warning cry 
against 'the Anglo-Saxon contagion.' The tenden- 
cies and aims, the view of life and the social econ- 
omy, of the ever-multiplying and spreading Anglo- 
Saxon race, would be found congenial, this prophet 
feared, by all the prose, all the vulgarity amongst 
mankind, and would invade and overpower all 
nations. The true ideal would be lost, a general 
sterility of mind and heart would set in. 

" The prophet had in view, no doubt, in the 
warning thus given, us and our colonies, but the 
United States still more. There the Anglo-Saxon 
race is already most numerous, there it increases 
fastest ; there material interests are more absorbing 
and pursued with most energy ; there the ideal, the 
saving ideal, of a high and rare excellence seems, 
perhaps, to suffer most danger of being obscured 
and lost. Whatever one may think of the general 
danger to the world from the Anglo-Saxon conta- 
gion, it appears to me difficult to deny that the 
growing greatness and influence of the United States 



The Milton Window. 197 

does bring with it some danger to the ideal of a high 
and rare excellence. The average man is too much 
a religion there ; his performance is unduly magni- 
fied, his shortcomings are not duly seen and ad- 
mitted. A lady in the State of Ohio sent to me, 
only the other day, a volume on American authors; 
the praise given throughout was of such high 
pitch that in thanking her I could not forbear say- 
ing that for only one or two of the authors named 
was such a strain of praise admissible, and that we 
lost all real standard of excellence by praising so 
uniformly and immoderately. She answered me, 
with charming good temper, that very likely I was 
quite right, but it was pleasant to her to think that 
excellence was Common and abundant. But ex- 
cellence is not common and abundant ; on the con- 
trary, as the Greek poet long ago said, excellence 
dwells among rocks hardly accessible, and a man 
must always wear his heart out before he can reach 
her. Whoever talks of excellence as common and 
abundant is on the way to lose all right standard of 
excellence. And when the right standard of ex- 
cellence is lost, it is not likely that much which is 
excellent will be produced. 

" To habituate ourselves, therefore, to approve, as 
the Bible says, things that are really excellent, is of 



198 T]ie Milton Window. 

the highest importance. And some apprehension 
may justly be caused by a tendency in Americans to 
take, or at any rate attempt to take, profess to take, 
the average man and his performances too seriously, 
to over-rate and over-praise what is not really 
superior. 

" But we have met here to-day to witness the un- 
veiling of a gift in Milton's honor, and a gift bestowed 
by an American, Mr. Childs of Philadelphia, whose 
cordial hospitality so many Englishmen, I myself 
among the number, have experienced in America. 
It was only last autumn that Stratford-upon-Avon 
celebrated the reception of a gift from the same 
generous donor in honor of Shakspeare. Shakspeare 
and Milton — he who wishes to keep his standard of 
excellence high cannot choose two better objects of 
regard and honor. And it is an American who has 
chosen them, and whose beautiful gift in honor of 
one of them, Milton, with Mr. Whittier's simple and 
true lines inscribed upon it, is unveiled to-day. Per- 
haps this gift in honor of Milton, of which I am 
asked to speak, is, even more than the gift in honor 
of Shakspeare, one to suggest edifying reflections 
to us. 

" Like Mr. Whittier, I treat the gift of Mr. Childs 
as a gift in honor of Milton, although the Window 



The Milton Window. 199 

given is in memory of the second wife^ Catherine 
Woodcock, the ' late espoused saint' of the famous 
sonnet, who died in child-bed at the end of the first 
year of her marriage with Milton, and who lies 
buried here with her infant. Milton is buried in 
Cripplegate, but he lived for a good while in this 
parish of St. Margaret's, Westminster, and here he 
composed part of * Paradise Lost,' and the whole 
of ^Paradise Regained' and ' Samson Agonistes.' 
When death deprived him of the Catherine whom 
the new Window commemorates, Milton had still 
some eighteen years to live, and Cromwell, his 'chief 
of men,' was yet ruling England. But the Restora- 
tion, with its 'Sons of Belial,' was not far off; and 
in the mean time Milton's heavy affliction had laid 
fast hold upon him, his eyesight had failed totally, 
he was blind. In what remained to him of life he 
had the consolation of producing the * Paradise Lost' 
and the * Samson Agonistes,' and such a consolation 
we may indeed count as no slight one. But the 
daily life of happiness in common things and in 
domestic affections — a life of which, to Milton as to 
Dante, too small a share was given — he seems to 
have known most, if not only, in his one married 
year with the wife who is here buried. Her form 
'vested all in white,' as in his sonnet he relates that 



200 The Milton Window. 

after her death she appeared to him, her face veiled, 
but, with 'love, sweetness, and goodness' shining in 
her person — this fair and gentle daughter of the rigid 
sectarist of Hackney, this lovable companion with 
whom Milton had rest and happiness one year, is a 
part of Milton indeed, and in calling up her mem- 
ory we call up his. 

*' And in calling up Milton's memory we call up, 
let me say, a memory upon which, in prospect of the 
Anglo-Saxon contagion and of its dangers supposed 
and real, it may be well to lay stress even more than 
upon Shakspeare. If to our English race an inade- 
quate sense for perfection of work is a real danger, 
if the discipline of respect for a high and flawless ex- 
cellence is peculiarly needed by us, Milton is of all 
our gifted men the best lesson, the most salutary 
influence. In the sure and flawless perfection of his 
rhythm and diction he is as admirable as Virgil or 
Dante, and in this respect he is unique amongst us. 
No one else in English literature and art possesses 
the like distinction. 

" Thomson, Cowper, Wordsworth, all of them good 
poets who have studied Milton, followed Milton, 
adopted his form, fail in their diction and rhythm if 
we try them by that high standard of excellence 
maintained by Milton constantly. From style really 



The Milton Windozv. 201 

high and pure Milton never departs; their depart- 
ures from it are frequent. 

" Shakspeare is divinely strong, right, and attrac- 
tive. But sureness of perfect style Shakspeare him- 
self does not possess. I have heard a pohticlan 
express wonder at the treasures of political wisdom 
in a certain celebrated scene of 'Troilus and Cres- 
sida ;' for my part I am at least equally moved to 
wonder at the fantastic and false diction in which 
Shakspeare has in that scene clothed them. Milton, 
from one end of * Paradise Lost' to the other, is in 
his diction and rhythm constantly a great artist in 
the great style. Whatever may be said as to the 
subject of his poem, as to the conditions under which 
he received his subject and treated it, that praise, at 
any rate, is assured to him. 

" For the rest, justice is not at present done, in my 
opinion, to Milton's management of the inevitable 
matter of a Puritan epic, a matter full of difficulties 
for a poet. Justice is not done to the architectonics^ 
as Goethe would have called them, of 'Paradise Lost;' 
in these, too, the power of Milton's art is remarkable. 
But this may be a proposition which requires dis- 
cussion and development for establishing it, and they 
are impossible on an occasion like the present. 

♦' That Milton, of all our English race, is by his 



202 The Milto7i Window. 

diction and rhythm the one artist of the highest 
rank in the great style whom we have ; this I take 
as requiring no discussion, this I take as certain. 

" The mighty power of poetry and art is generally 
admitted. But where the soul of this power, of this 
power at its best, chiefly resides, very many of us 
fail to see. It resides chiefly in the refining and ele- 
vation wrought in us by the high and rare excellence 
of the great style. We may feel the effect without 
being able to give ourselves clear account of its 
cause, but the thing is so. Now, no race needs the 
influences mentioned, the influences of refining and 
elevation, more than ours ; and in poetry and art our 
grand source for them is Milton. 

"To what does he owe this supreme distinction? 
To nature first and foremost, to that bent of nature 
for inequality which, to the worshipers of the ave- 
rage man, is so unacceptable ; to a gift, a divine 
favor. • The older one grows,' says Goethe, * the 
more one prizes natural gifts, because by no possi- 
bility can they be procured and stuck on.' Nature 
formed Milton to be a great poet But what other 
poet has shown so sincere a sense of the grandeur of 
his vocation, and a moral effort so constant and 
sublime to make and keep himself worthy of it ? 
The Milton of religious and political controversy. 



The Milton Window. 203 

and perhaps of domestic life also, is not seldom dis- 
figured by want of amenity, by acerbity. The Mil- 
ton of poetry, on the other hand, is one of those 
great men 'who are modest' — to quote a fine remark 
of Leopardi, that gifted and stricken young Italian, 
who, in his sense for poetic style, is worthy to be 
named with Dante and Milton — * who are modest, 
because they continually compare themselves, not 
with other men, but with that idea of the perfect 
which they have before their mind.' The Milton of 
poetry is the man, in his own magnificent phrase, of 
* devout prayer to that Eternal Spirit that can enrich 
with all utterance and knowledge, and sends out his 
Seraphim with the hallowed fire of his altar to 
touch and purify the lips of whom he pleases.' And, 
finally, the Milton of poetry is, in his own words 
again, the man of * industrious and select reading.' 
Continually he lived in companionship with high 
and rare excellence, with the great Hebrew poets 
and prophets, with the great poets of Greece and 
Rome. The Hebrew compositions were not in 
verse, and can be not inadequately represented by 
the grand measured prose of our English Bible. 
The verse of the poets of Greece and Rome no 
translation can adeq*uately reproduce. Prose cannot 
have the power of verse ; verse translation may give 



204 TJie Milton VVindozv. 

whatever of charm is in the soul and talent of the 
translator himself, but never the specific charm of 
the verse and poet translated. In our race are 
thousands of readers, presently there will be mil- 
lions, who know not a word of Greek and Latin, and 
will never learn those languages. If this host of 
readers are ever to gain any sense of the power and 
charm of the great poets of antiquity, their way to 
gain it is not through translations of the ancients, 
but through the original poetry of Milton, who has 
the like power and charm, because he has the like 
great style. 

"Through Milton they may gain it, for, in conclu- 
sion, Milton is English ; this master in the great 
style of the ancients is English. Virgil, whom Mil- 
ton loved and honored, has at the end of the 
*^neid' a noble passage, where Juno, seeing the 
defeat of Turnus and the Italians imminent, the 
victory of the Trojan invaders assured, entreats Jupi- 
ter that Italy may nevertheless survive and be her- 
self still, may retain her own mind, manners, and 
language, and not adopt those of the conqueror. 

* Sit Latium, sint Albani per secula rages ! 

Jupiter grants the prayer; he promises perpetuity 
and the future to Italy — Italy re-enforced by what- 
ever virtue the Trojan race has, but Italy, not Troy. 



The Milton Window. 205 

This we may take as a sort of parable suiting our- 
selves. All the Anglo-Saxon contagion, all the 
flood of Anglo-Saxon commonness, beats vainly 
against the great style, but cannot shake it, and has 
to accept its triumph. But it triumphs in Milton, in 
one of our own race, tongue, faith, and morals. 
Milton has made the great style no longer an exotic 
here; he has made it an inmate amongst us, a 
leaven, and a power. Nevertheless, he, and his 
hearers on both sides of the Atlantic, are English 
and will remain English : — 

' Sermonem Ausonii patrium moresque tenebunt.' 

The English race overspreads the world, and at the 
same time the ideal of an excellence the most high 
and the most rare abides a possession with it for- 
ever." 

The foregoing address was published in * The 
Century Magazine' for May, 1888. 



HIS LAST WORK, 

This noble tribute to Milton was the last work 
which this learned and graceful scholar lived to do. 
A short time after its delivery Dr. Arnold died. 



2o6 The Milton Window. 

The following letter from Archdeacon Farrar to 
Mr. Childs will be found interesting in its reference 
to the final literary effort of the great scholar and 
divine: — 

" Athen^.um Club, Pai.l Mall, S. W., 
"May I, 1888. 

" My Dear Mr. Childs : — 

" I felt Mr. Matthew Arnold's death deeply. He 
died on a Sunday, and only the Friday before he had 
been talking to me here at the Athenaeum in the 
very highest spirits. He had alluded to the Milton 
Article (which has since appeared, a posthumous 
work). It will be interesting to you to know that it 
was called forth by your noble gift, and that it was 
the last thing which came from that brilliant intel- 
lect. I took part in his funeral at the quiet little 
village church of Laleham, where we laid him be- 
side his three boys — two of whom had been my 
pupils at Harrow. 

"The Window is beautiful. It will be a permanent 
and historic ornament to the Church, which will now 
have a record of your generosity as well as West- 
minster Abbey, where only yesterday I was reading 
the plate which commemorates your gift of the 
Cowper and Herbert Window. 

" Cordially and sincerely yours, 

" F. W. FARRAR." 



The Milton Windozv. 207 



DESCRIPTION OF THE WINDOW, 

The Window is remarkable for its fulness of detail 
and richness of color. Both in artistic design and 
execution it is worthy of high praise. It is divided 
by its stone work into four lights with tracery open- 
ings, and is of fifteenth century character, known as 
the ** perpendicular" style, which is that of the church 
generally. The design of the stained glass fiUing the 
Window in memory of the author of * Paradise Lost' 
is planned on three lines of panels in horizontal or- 
der, the middle tier being of somewhat larger depth 
than those above and below it. In the two divisions 
of the central portions of the whole, four panels — 
viz., those of the central and lower tiers respectively 
of these lights — are devoted to the personal history 
of the poet. In one of the bottom panels the boy 
Milton is shown at St. Paul's school among his fel- 
low-schoolmates. In the next panel Milton's visit 
to Galileo is depicted. Above these are two of the 
larger panels combined to make one central subject 
representing the poet dictating 'Paradise Lost' to 
his daughters. Around these panels are eight others 
illustrative of 'Paradise Lost' and 'Paradise F.-e- 
gained.' 



2o8 The Milton Window. 

In reference to the former are represented the 
incidents of: i. Satan's summons to his legions. 
2. Adam and Eve at prayer in Paradise, Satan 
looking on. 3. The temptation. 4. The expul- 
sion. In the upper tier the four panels are de- 
voted to the illustration respectively of: i. The 
annunciation. 2. The nativity of our Lord. 3. The 
baptism of our Lord. 4. The defeat of Satan in his 
temptations of our Lord. In the tracery openings 
are jubilant angels and at the apex of the whole fig- 
ures of Adam on the left and our Lord on the right, 
representing thus the first and second Adam respec- 
tively. At the base of the window is the following 
inscription : — 

" To the Glory of God : and in memory of the immortal poet, John 
Milton : whose wife and child lie buried here : this window is dedicated 
by George W. Childs, of Philadelphia, mdccclxxxviii." 

Occupying a corresponding space and position 
in the window is the following fine verse thereon 
emblazoned, which was especially written for the 
Memorial by the American Quaker Poet, John 
Greenleaf Whittier, as a tribute to his brother Poet 
of long ago : — 

" The New World honors him whose lofty plea 

For England's freedom made her own more sure, 
Whose song, immortal as its theme, shall be 
Their common freehold while both worlds endure." 



The Milton Window, 209 

Regarding these lines Mr. Whittier wrote to 
Mr. Childs as follows : — 

" My Dear Friend : — 

<* I am glad to comply with thy request and that 
of our friend Archdeacon Farrar. I hope the lines 
may be satisfactory. It is difficult to put all that 
could be said of Milton in four lines. How very 
beautiful and noble thy benefactions are ! Every 
one is a testimony of peace and good-will. 

" I am, with high respect and esteem, thy aged 

friend, 

"JOHN G. WHITTIER." 

" I think even such a scholar as Dr. Farrar will 
not object to my use of the w^ord 'freehold.' Milton 
himself uses it in the same way in his prose writings, 
viz. : — 

" ' I too have my chapter and freehold of re- 
joicing.' " 

The religious services were the ordinary Lenten 
ones, except that the hymn preceding the sermon 
was Milton's : 

" Let us with a gladsome mind, 
Praise the Lord, for he is kind." 

" Archdeacon Farrar, who preached from Lamen- 
tations iv. 7, emphasized the occasion in his opening 
14 



210 The Milton Windoiv. 

remarks. While justly claiming attention to the 
fact that he never neglected to preach according to 
the church's season, year after year, through both 
the gloom and the glory of the Christian calendar, it 
had been and would be his endeavor to dwell with 
the congregation upon each sacred anniversary as it 
recurred, but he plainly announced on this occasion 
a departure from the usual practice, deferring for a 
week the usual Lenten exhortation. He devoted 
almost the whole address to pointing out the con- 
crete lesson of Christianity as expounded by the 
noble life of Milton. A spontaneous, generous, and 
just expression of approval of the action of the donor 
of the Memorial Window was succeeded by an elo- 
quent and keenly appreciative resume of Milton's 
life as a Christian man, coupled with an unstinted 
tribute to his genius as a poet who derived inspira- 
tion from a divine source. 

*' As the discourse proceeded and the congrega- 
tion warmed in sympathy with the impassioned but 
well-weighed eloquence of the preacher, the gloomy 
weather without cleared, and the wintry sun 
gleamed through the richly-stained windows with 
which St. Margaret's is generally adorned and 
glinted on the Milton Memorial, relieving the semi- 
obscurity of the interior and illuming the impressive 



The Milton Window. 2 1 1 

scene in which the worshipers mingled with devo- 
tion to the Almighty the full meed of admiration of 
Milton's inspired genius which the preacher's fer- 
vency demanded." 

THE SERVICES. 

On the Sunday following the unveiling of the 
memorial to the poet, Archdeacon Farrar, in order 
to give greater impressiveness to the event, 
preached a special sermon in St. Margaret's. The 
day was bitterly cold, the wind blowing sharply 
from Ae northeast, and the snow falling intermit- 
tently during the morning ; but, undeterred by the 
churlish weather, a vast multitude, including many of 
the most distinguished religious, social, political, and 
literary leaders of England, went to listen to the elo- 
quent words of the Venerable Archdeacon. The pews 
were all filled, and chairs were placed in the aisles 
to accommodate the great concourse assembled to 
testify by their presence their interest in the impres- 
sive ceremony. Among those who were in attend- 
ance were Mr. Phelps, the American Minister, and 
his wife ; Matthew Arnold ; the poet, Robert Brown- 
ing ; the Baroness Burdett-Coutts ; the Rev. Phillips 
Brooks, of Boston ; and many prominent American 



212 The Milton Window. 

residents of London, as well as distinguished repre- 
sentatives of the nobility. 

The following is the full text of the sermon : — 

" Her Nazarites were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk, 
they were more ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing was of 
sapphire. — Lam. iv, 7. 

" This is the First Sunday in Lent, and you, my 
friends, will bear witness that I never neglect to preach 
on the Church's seasons. Year after year, through 
the gloom and glad of the calendar, from the splendor 
of the Nativity to the solemn shadows of Passion 
Week, it has been said — and, God helping me, it will be 
— my endeavor to dwell with you upon the lessons of 
each sacred anniversary. Naturally to-day I should 
have striven to remind you of the deep meaning of 
Lent; and so I shall do, though less obviously than 
usual. Leaving till next Sunday the more direct 
treatment of that subject, to-day I would point to 
some of those lessons in the concrete, as exhibited 
in a noble life. And I would humbly pray you to 
listen without impatience or prejudice, for I shall 
enter into no disputable points, I shall try not to 
hurt any susceptibilities; I shall point only to that 
which was indisputably excellent in one who showed 
that temperance, soberness, and chastity which it is 
the very object of Lent to teach. 



The Milton Window. 213 

" It has been my desire during twelve years to 
surround this ancient and famous church with noble 
associations ; to revive the memories of those great 
men with which it has been connected, and thus to 
indicate the relation in which it stands to the history 
of England. 

** To commemorate events of recent days the mem- 
bers of the House of Commons, whose church it is, 
have erected the window which recalls the tragic 
death of Lord Frederick Cavendish ; and memorials 
have been placed here to Lord Hatherly, the good 
Lord Chancellor ; to Lord Farnborough, who spent 
his life in the service of Parliament; and in token of 
our gratitude for fifty years of almost unbroken pros- 
perity under the reign of a beloved Queen, the 
Caxton window was given by the printers of London 
in memory of that great man who lies buried here ; 
and citizens of America in their large-handed gene- 
rosity and care for the great traditions which are 
their heritage no less than ours, have presented us 
with that brilliant west window, which commemorates 
nothing less than the founding of the New World. 

*'But this church may also claim its special interest 
in the mighty name of Milton. That name is re- 
corded in our marriage register; and here lies buried, 
with Milton's infant daughter, that beloved wife — 



214 The Milton Window. 

* my late espoused saint' — whose love flung one brief 
gleam of happiness over the poet's troubled later 
years. Once more we are indebted to an American 
citizen for the beautiful Milton Window which was 
yesterday unveiled. The well-counselled munificence 
of Mr. Childs, of Philadelphia, who has already 
enriched Stratford-upon-Avon with a memorial of 
Shakspeare, and Westminster Abbey with the Win- 
dow in memory of Herbert and Cowper, has now 
erected this abiding memorial to the great Puritan 
Poet. Myself the debtor to American friends for 
great kindness, I cannot but rejoice that the Church 
of St. Margaret's should furnish yet one more illus- 
tration of those bonds of common traditions and 
blood and language and affection which unite Eng- 
land to the great Republic of the West ; and I am 
glad that the public spirit of the church-wardens has 
assigned from henceforth the use of one special pew 
in this church to our friends and visitors from the 
other side of the Atlantic. 

"There was something specially appropriate in the 
Milton Window being the gift of an American. For 
the United States represent m.uch that Milton most 
deeply loved; the commonwealth which, happily fail- 
ing in England, in America gloriously succeeded ; 
the Puritanism wliich, crushed in Enc^land, inspired 



The Milton Window. 215 

vigor and nobleness into our kin beyond the sea. 
'Paradise Lost' was the one Enghsh poem which 
the sons of the Pilgrim Fathers loved. Until Long- 
fellow inspired New England with a fresh sense of 
the sacredness of art and song, that poem alone 
tempered with the colorings of imagination the stern 
Hebrew ideal bequeathed to their descendants by 
those who sailed in the Mayflower. 

*' And some of Milton's most honored friends were 
closely connected with America. The younger Sir 
Henry Vane, to whom he addressed the sonnet, 

' Vane, young in years, but in sage counsel old,' 

Vane, who has been called ' one of the greatest and 
purest men who ever walked the earth to adorn and 
elevate his kind,' emigrated to New England in 1635, 
and was elected governor in 1636. Of Roger Wil- 
liams, ' the apostle of soul freedom,' the founder of 
Rhode Island, Milton speaks as 'that extraordinary 
man and most enlightened legislator, who, after suf- 
fering persecutions from his brethren, persevered 
amid incredible hardships and difficulties in seeking 
a place of refuge for the sacred ark of freedom;' and 
Ro^er Williams, in a letter to Governor Winthrop, 
kindly communicated to me by his descendant, the 
Hon. R. C. Winthrop, of Boston, says, ' The secretary 



2i6 The Milton Window. 

of the council, Mr. Milton, for my Dutch I read him, 
read me many more languages.' 

'' The venerable poet, Mr. Whittier, who has writ- 
ten the lines for yonder window, most justly says: — 

' The New World honors him whose lofty plea 

For England's freedom made her own more sure, 
Whose song, immortal as its theme, shall be 

Their common freehold while both worlds endure.' 

*' I. I propose this morning to speak tq you 
about Milton ; not, of course, in the political aspect 
of his life, and still less by way of criticising his 
poems, but as a man of uniquely noble personality, 
who, whatever may have been his other errors, 
set to the world an example of godly life which is 
supremely needed in the present day. 'Character,' 
says Emerson, ' is higher than intellect,' and a great 
writer has said of Milton that *it may be doubted 
whether any man was altogether so great, taking 
into our view at once his manly virtue, his super- 
human genius, his zeal for truth (for true patriotism, 
true freedom), his eloquence in displaying it, his con- 
tempt for personal power, his glory and exultation in 
his country's.' Were I to search the whole range of 
English history for a type of Christian nobleness, who 
might inspire our youths with the glory of a dis- 



The Milton Window. 217 

tinguished life, and the magnanimity of a lofty 
character, I know no one in whom was better mani- 
fested the indefinable distinction, the life-long self- 
restraint, the intense purpose, the grave self-respect, 
the lofty disdain for all which was sordid and ignoble 
which marks the sincerity of the sons of God. He 
was, as Wordsworth says of him : — 

' Soul awful — if this world has ever held 
An awful soul.' 

"2. Of these four great cardinal virtues into which 
virtue has been divided since moral philosophy be- 
gan — prudence, temperance, fortitude, and justice — 
the first three are pre-eminently virtues which Lent 
should evoke, and they shone conspicuously in the 
life of Milton. Take his youth. What a lesson is 
conveyed to the mental indolence of the mass of 
ordinary English boys by the ardor of this glorious 
young student, who, at the age of twelve, when he 
was at St. Paul's School, learned with such eagerness 
that he scarcely ever went to bed before midnight. 
He tells us that even in early years he took labor 
and intent study to be his portion in this life. While 
he could write Latin like a Roman, he had also 
mastered Greek, French, Italian, Syriac, and 
Hebrew. 



21 8 The Milton Window. 

** Do not imagine that, therefore, he was some 
pallid student or stunted ascetic. On the contrary 
he was a boy full of force and fire, full of self-control, 
eminently beautiful, eminently pure, a good fencer, 
an accomplished swordsman, and this young and 
holy student would probably have defeated in every 
manly exercise a dozen of the youths who have 
nothing to be proud of save their ignorance and 
their vices — the dissipated loungers and oglers at re- 
freshment bars, who need perpetual glasses of ardent 
spirits to support their wasted energies. In him the 
sound body was the fair temple of a lovely soul. 
And even while we watch him as a youth we see the 
two chief secrets of his grandeur. The first was his 
exquisite purity. From earliest years he thought 
himself a fit person to do the noblest and godliest 
deeds and far better worth than to deject and debase 
by such a defilement as sin is, himself so highly ran- 
somed and ennobled to friendship and filial relation 
with God. From the first he felt that every free and 
gentle spirit, even without the oath of knighthood, 
was born a knight, nor needed to expect the gilt 
spurs nor the laying a sword upon his shoulder to 
stir him up both by his counsel and his arms to pro- 
tect the weakness of chastity. 

" From the first he cherished within himself a cer- 



The Milton Window. 219 

tain high fastidiousness and virginal delicacy of soul, 
an honest haughtiness of modest self-esteem which 
made him shrink with the loathing of a youthful 
Joseph from coarse contaminations. He went to 
Christ's College, Cambridge, at the age of sixteen, 
and remained there seven years. Wordsworth, 
describing what he was as a youth at Cambridge, 
says : 

* I seem to see him here familiarly, and in his scholar's dress 
bomiding before me, yet a stripling youth : 

• A boy, no better, with his rosy cheeks, 
Angelical, keen eye, courageous look, 
And conscious step of purity and pride.' 

"The vulgar soul rarely loves the noble, and it 
was Milton's stainless chastity, together with his 
personal beauty, which gained him the name of 
•the Lady,' until the dislike of his meaner fellows 
gave way before his moral nobleness and intellectual 
prominence. What he was at that time may be 
seen in his earliest lines on the death of a fair infant, 

' Soft, silken primrose fading timelessly,' 

written when he was but seventeen. What his 
thoughts were we learn also from those autobio- 
graphic passages of his writings in which with a 
superb and ingenuous egotism he put to shame the 



220 The Milton Window. 

foul slanders of his enemies. * If,' he said, ' God 
ever instilled an intense love of moral beauty into the 
breast of any man, He has instilled it into mine.' It 
is in this purity of his ideal that he stands so far as 
a man above all that we know of Shakspeare. He 
could not because he would not have written much 
that Shakspeare wrote ; still less would he have 
descended from that high place in which he sat with 
his garland and singing robes about him, to mingle 
with those other Elizabethan dramatists who 

' Stood around 
The throne of Shakspeare, sturdy but unclean.' 

And had the glorious young Puritan ever appeared 
as a boy at one of the drinking bouts and wit en- 
counters at the Mermaid Tavern, and propounded 
his grave theory that he who would be a true poet 
must aim first to make his life a true poem, I think, 
with his biographer, that a blush may have passed 
over the swarthy cheek of Ben Jonson, and that 
Shakspeare might have bent his head to hide a noble 
tear. Austere he was ; but his was neither the ab- 
sorbed austerity of the scholar, nor the ostentatious 
austerity of the Pharisee, nor the agonizing self- 
introspection of a monk, but the sweet and grave 
austerity of a hero and a sage. 

" And the other youthful germ of his greatness 



The Milton Windoiv. 221 

was his high steadfastness of purpose. Most men 
hve only from hand to mouth. Tlie bias of their 
h'fe is prescribed to them by accident. They are 
driven hither and thither by the gusts of their own 
passions, or become the sport and prey of others, or 
intrust the decision of their course to the * immoral 
god, circumstance.' In the words of Isaiah, ' Gad 
and Meni are the idols of their service; they pre- 
pare a table for chance and furnish a drink-offering 
to Destiny.' From such idols no inspiration comes. 
But Milton's mind, he tells us, was set wholly on 
the accomplishment of great designs. ' You ask 
me, Charles, of what I am thinking,' he wrote to 
his young friend and schoolfellow, Charles Diodati; 
' I think, so help me Heaven, of immortality.' He 
had early learned ' to scorn delights, and live labo- 
rious days.' His whole youth — the six years at 
school, the seven years at Cambridge, the five of 
studious retirement at Horton — were all intended as 
one long preparation for the right use of those abili- 
ties which he regarded as ' the inspired gift of God 
rarely bestowed.' He felt that he who would be a 
true poet ought himself to be a true poem. He 
meant that the great poem which even then he 
meditated should be drawn * neither from the heat 
of youth, or the vapors of wine, like that which 



222 The Milton Window. 

flows at waste from the pen of some vulgar amourist 
or the trencher fury of some rhyming parasite, but 
by devout prayer to that Eternal Spirit, who can 
enrich with aU utterance and knowledge, and sends 
out His seraphim with the hallowed fire of His altar, 
to touch and purify the lips of whom he pleases.' 

*' Poetry was not to him as to the roystering town- 
poets and love-poets and wit-poets of his times, the 
practice of a knack and the provision of an amuse- 
ment, but he believed that the Holy Spirit to whom 
he devoutly prayed could help him by means of his 
verse to imbreed and cherish in a great people the 
deeds of virtue and public civility; to allay the per- 
turbations of the mind and set the affections in right 
tune ; to celebrate, in glorious and lofty hymns, the 
throne and equipage of God's Almightiness .... 
to sing victorious agonies of saints and martyrs, the 
deeds and triumphs of just and pious nations doing 
valiantly through faith against the enemies of Christ; 
to deplore the relapses of kingdoms and states from 
justice and God's true worship ; lastly, whatsoever 
in religion is holy and sublime, in virtue amiable and 
grave, all these to paint and to describe. 

" And as one means to the evolution of this poem, 
his 

' Care was fixed and zealously intent 
To fill his odorous lamp with deeds of light 
And hope that reaps not shame.' 



The Milton Window. 223 

"Puritan he was. Yet there was nothing sour or 
fanatical in his Puritanism. He loved music, he 
loved art, he loved science, he loved the drama. 
And in these years he wrote Comus, which, amid 
its festal splendor and rural sweetness, is the love- 
liest poem ever written in praise of chastity ; and 
Lycidas, in which we first see that terrible two- 
handed engine at the door, and hear the first mut- 
ters of that storm which was to sweep so much 
away. 

*' 3. In 1638 Milton started on his travels. His 
travels were not filled with inanities and debauch- 
eries, as were those of too many. In Paris he was 
introduced to the great Hugo Grotius ; in Florence 
to the * Starry Galileo' ; in Naples to the Marquis 
Manso, who had been the friend and patron of 
Tasso ; at Rome his bold faithfulness brought him 
into peril. He had intended to proceed to Greece 
and Sicily, but the sad news of civil discord in Eng- 
land called him home. In those stern days men 
could not shilly-shally down the stream of popular 
compromise. They were forced to take a side, and 
Milton took his side against that which he regarded 
a feeble tyranny and ruthless priestcraft. ' When 
God,' he says, ' commands to take the trumpet and 
blow a dolorous and jarring blast, it lies not in man's 



224 



The Milton Window. 



will what he shall say or what he shall conceal. I 
considered it dishonorable to be enjoying myself in 
foreign lands, while my countrymen were striking a 
blow for freedom.' You may disapprove — you may 
honorably disapprove of the part he took. Remem- 
ber only that on both sides in that great civil war 
in England were noble, righteous, and holy men ; 
and that we, sitting in our arm-chairs, are hardly 
adequate to judge of the mighty issues of national 
life and death which were at stake in that tremen- 
dous conflict. Thus, then, ended the youth — the 
happy, pure, and noble youth of Milton. 

''4. His manhood, from 1640-1660, was a period 
of immense self-sacrifice. Laying aside, for a time, all 
his highest hopes, and leaving *the calm and pleas- 
ing solitariness' wherein, amid cheerful thoughts, 
he could gaze on the bright countenance of truth in 
the still air of delightful studies, he was forced to 
embark on a troubled sea of noises and harsh dis- 
putes. If his arguments are 'flushed with passion;' 
if we regret some of his opinions and many of those 
vehem.encies in which even the stout timbers of his 
native language seem to strain and crack under the 
Titanic force of his indignation, we must remember 
that amid domestic misery, fierce excitement, and a 
world of disesteem, it was the one passion of his life 



The Milton Window. 225 

to defend liberty (' religious liberty against the pre- 
lates, civil liberty against the crown, the liberty of 
the press against the executive, the liberty of con- 
science, the liberty of domestic life'). The unpar- 
alleled splendor and majesty of those passages in his 
prose writings in which he soars above the clamors 
of controversy, show the holy seriousness of his 
aims. And besides these glorious pages, two of his 
prose writings are of permanent value. In the 
* Areopagitica' he established the liberty of the press; 
in the * Tractate on Education' his ideal is not the 
pelting and peddling ideal of finical pedagogues, but 
that large conception of teaching which shall enable 
a man to * perform justly, skilfully, and magnani- 
mously all offices, both public and private, of peace 
and war,' and ' to repair the ruin of our first parents 
by regaining to know God aright.' Even when he 
was threatened with blindness as the result of exces- 
sive labors in the public cause, ' the choice,' he says, 
'lay before me, between dereliction of a supreme 
duty and loss of eyesight; I could not but obey that 
inward monitor, I know not what, that spake to me 
from heaven.' In 1653, at the age of forty-four, he 
became totally blind, and in 1656 his one brief gleam 
of domestic happiness, in his second marriage, was 
IS 



226 The Milton Window. 

quenched forever by the death of that sweet wife, 
and that infant child, who he buried here. 

"5. So ended the manhood of storm and stress 
and passionate tumult, and then came the long, dark 
afternoon of his life, in the total ruin and eclipse of 
the cause which he had so passionately served. In 
1660 Charles the Second was restored, and Milton 
was barely saved from imminent peril of death to be 
flung aside as a blind and hated outcast by a country 
which at once sank into the very nadir of its degra- 
dation. The Restoration was a hideous reaction of 
servility against all freedom, of impurity against all 
righteousness. Amid that bibulous dissonance of 
Bacchus and his revellers the one pure and lofty 
voice was drowned. In that orgy of drunkenness 
and license the high ideal of Milton was trampled as 
under the hoofs of swine. Who can think without 
a blush of moral cataclysm and conflagration in 
which debauchery rioted in high places unrebuked; 
in which adulterers and adulteresses thronged the 
desecrated chambers of Whitehall ; in which a per- 
jured trifler complacently pocketed the subsidies of 
France ; in which the name of ' Saint' was regarded 
as the most crushing of all sarcasms, and the wittiest 
of all jibes; in which the nation's life was tainted 
through and through with vices; in which the purity 



The Milton Window. 227 

of England withered like a garland in a Fury's breath, 
and her heroic age vanished ' not by gradual decay, 
not by imperceptible degeneracy, but like the winter 
snow at noon' ? Some of us have known what is the 
anguish of watching in vain the stealthy growth of 
ignoble error ; of taking the unpopular and the fail- 
ing side ; but scarcely one of us can imagine the 
colossal tragedy of Milton's trial. The Roman poet 
in his immortal line says : — 

' Victrix causa Diis placuit, sed victa Catoni.' 

'* Yet the overthrow which Cato witnessed at 
Thapsus was nothing to the moral overthrow which 
Milton witnessed after 1660, and the suicide of Cato 
at Utica compared with Milton's patient endurance 
is as paganism is to Christianity. Amid a moral 
miacma deadlier than the great plague which drove 
him from London ; amid conflagration of all things 
noble, more destructive than the great fire, in irre- 
trievable discomfiture, standing utterly alone, blind, 
impoverished, hated, his friends dead, his hopes 
blasted, his dear ones lost, his children undutiful, 
his whole life's labor dashed into total shipwreck, 
and overwhelmed under the foul and crawling foam 
of an ignoble society — to one so circumstanced 

' Among new men, strange faces, other minds,' 



228 The Milton Window. 

any amount of despair or prostration might have 
seemed excusable. The sun of all his golden hopes 
had set into a sea of mud. The age of Vane and 
Hampden had been succeeded by the age of Tom 
Chiffinch and Samuel Pepys, I say that under such 
an earthquake of calamity his very trust in God 
might have been rudely shaken, and Hope might 
have dropped her anchor and Faith itself have 
quenched her star. The afternoon of life is often 
cloudy for us all. Misfortune, disappointment, sick- 
ness, the loss of those we love, crowd upon it, and 
even after the rain the clouds return. And I have 
known men and even good men, who, in the ruin of 
fortune, in the anguish of bereavement, in the roar 
of unjust obloquy, have lost even their faith in God. 
But Milton, greates_t of all amid the total loss of 
friends, fortune, fame, sight, and hope, persecuted 
but not forsaken, cast down but not destroyed, poor 
yet making many rich, fell back on his own great 
mind, on his own pure aspirations, on his own un- 
daunted purpose, on his own heroic confidence in 
God. Even as a youth he had spoken in one of his 
Italian sonnets of the heart within him, which he had 
found faithful, intrepid, and secure from vulgar fec.rs 
and hopes, a heart which armed itself as with solid 



The Milton Window. 229 

adamant when thunders burst, and the great world 
roared around. 

''And that heart did not fail him now. The 
shadows of his blindness and obscurity were to him 
as the shadow of God's wing, under which he took 
refuge till the tyranny was overpast. He lived 
hard by in this parish, in Petty France, now York 
Street. There you might have seen him — England's 
blind Maeonides— playing his organ in that lonely 
room with the faded green hangings, or sitting in 
his gray coat at the door, and turning to the sunlight 
wistfully his sightless eyes. In those years it was 
that he wrote for England her one epic poem, ' Para- 
dise Lost.' He had planned it thirty years before, 
and he received for it £^. It is not for me to speak 
of the unequaled grandeur of this poem. It is not 
addressed to the petty, the sensual, or the sordid. 
Let all whose souls are ignoble keep aloof from that 
holy ground. It was not meant for them. Milton 
never cared for the throng and noises of vulgar men. 
The eagle does not greatly worry itself about the 
opinions of the mole. If you do not rise to him, he 
will not stoop to you. 

♦« And after 'Paradise Lost' he gave us 'Paradise 
Regained,' one of the earliest attempts since the 
Gospels really to study the great ideal of the character 



230 The Milton Window. 

of Christ. And lastly, he wrote ' Samson Agonistes,' 
a most true index of his heart. In its pure grace 
and greatness, in its disdainful rejection of all orna- 
ment or color, in the austerity of its Greek-like self- 
restraint, that great tragedy has been compared to a 
white marble statue from the hand of Phidias. Yet, 
like the statue of the dying gladiator, it throbs with 
a pathos too deep for utterance. It reveals to us, 
under the agonies of the ignoble Samson, the image 
of the poet himself, struggling amid the storms 
of fate, yet ploughing his way to peace amid a 
cloud of rude detractions. And the poet is even 
grander than his poem. His w^as the heroism of a 
soul which no amount of adversity could quell. He 
was with Samson 

' Eyeless in Gaza at a mill with slaves,' " 

" This was the characteristic of that great afflic- 
tion wherewith God afflicted him, that he was reme- 
diless. In that cloudy afternoon of life of which I 
spoke, in those paler and less crowned, and more 
anxious and more painful years which come to most 
of us, the sun often bursts forth at last and turns the 
clouds into gold and crimson, 

' As he descendeth proudly carpeting 
The western waves with glory, ere he deign 
To set his foot upon them.' 



The Milton Window. 231 

'* It was not so with Milton. He says, in those 
pathetic words of Samson — 

' Nor am I in the list of those who hope, 
Hopeless are all my evils.' 

"And yet he sang on, did not lay aside his laurel; 
he sang the immortal strains of ' Paradise Lost,' 

* With voice unchanged 
To hoarse or mute, tho' fall'n on evil days, 
On evil days tho' fall'n, and evil tongues, 
In darkness, and with dangers compassed round 
And solitude,' 

And, amid these complicated trials, he says : — 

' I argue not 
Against heaven's will, but still bear up and steer 
Uphillward.' 

" His ' Samson Agonistes' has been called * the 
thundering reverberation of a mighty spirit struck 
with the plectrum of disappointment.' Disheart- 
ened, dishonored, yet he was so undismayed that he 
could still, like Dante in his bitter exile, give to 
England poems monumental, and imperishable in 
their splendor and stateliness, which will endure 
while time shall last. Whatever then may have 
been Milton's errors, yet if it be noble to be in 
boyhood earnest and diligent, in youth temperate, 
serious, and pure; if there be grandeur in that 



232 The Milton Windozv. 

concentrated and life-long purpose which St. Paul 
describes by ' This one thing I do ;' — if there be 
anything fruitful in the self-sacrifice which is ready, 
at the call of seeming duty, to lay aside without a 
murmur the highest hopes ; — if there be anything 
excellent in whole-hearted sincerity, shown in a 
chaste and laborious life — if it be heroic to bow 
with unmurmuring submission to the sternest dispen- 
sations of Providence ; if it be noble to maintain the 
undauntedness of an upright manhood, and to render 
to thankless generations immortal services amid the 
roar of unscrupulous execration, then surely we may 
learn lessons from this life of intent labor, exalted 
aims, and stainless chastity, of a fortitude which 
never swerved, and a duty which never succumbed 
to weariness. 

" When Milton had nothing to look forward to 
on earth, save death, as the close and balm of all 
his sufferings, yet never for one moment did he 
doubt whether God or Dagon was the Lord. And 
he had this reward of all his undaunted faithfulness, 
that when man forsook him God was still with him, 
and, like Athanasius, he had two sure friends. For 
may we not say of him, as Hooker has said of 
Athanasius, that there was nothing observed in him 
throughout the course of that long tragedy other 



The Milton Window. 233 

than such as very well became a wise man to do, 
and a righteous to suffer ? so that this was the plain 
condition of those times, the whole world against 
him, and he against it ; half a hundred years spent 
in doubtful trial which of the two in the end would 
prevail, the side which had all, or else the poet 
which had no friend but God and death — the one a 
defender of his innocency, the other a finisher of all 
his troubles. 

<' Let me conclude with the fine tribute to Milton 
of a kindred spirit, Wordsworth. The sweet Poet 
of the Lakes was as ardent a royalist, as earnest a 
conservative as any one here present could possibly 
be, and he was, moreover, an eminently holy man. 
Yet he knew the preciousness to every nation of 
high examples, and he does not hesitate to say: — 

' Milton, thou shouldst be living at this hour. 
England hath need of thee ! She is a fen 
Of stagnant waters. Altar, sword, and pen. 

Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower 
Are passing from us, we are selfish men. 
O raise us up, return to us again, 

And give us manners, freedom, virtue, power. 

Thy soul was like a star, and dwelt apart. 

Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea, 
Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free. 
So didst thou travel on life's common way 

In cheerful godliness — and yet thy heart 
The lowliest burdens on itself did lay.' 



234 1^^^^ Milton Window. 

" And since high and holy lives are none so com- 
mon, let us thank God for this and every example of 
those who, with whatever failures, have yet striven 
from childhood to old age to walk in the steps of 
their Saviour Christ." 

The foregoing sermon was published in * The 
Churchman,' of New York, and to it was appended 
the following note : — 

" St. Margaret's, Westminster, 
"February 19, 1 888. 

" This manuscript of a sermon preached at St. 
Margaret's, Westminster — the Church of the House 
of Commons — on the occasion of the unveiling of 
the Window in memory of Milton, presented to the 
church by George W. Childs, Esq., of Philadel- 
phia, is presented to Mr. Childs, with grateful 

regard, by 

"FREDERICK W. FARRAR, 

" Archdeacon of Westminster." 

The subjoined editorial reference to the Window 
was printed in the same number of * The Church- 
man' : 

"Under the shadow almost of the northern transept 
of Westminster Abbey and within a stone's throw 



The Mil^n Window. 235 

of Westminster Hall and the Houses of Parliament 
stands a church which is probably known to every 
American who has visited London — the Church of 
St. Margaret's. Interesting as it is because of its 
monuments and its being the Church of the House 
of Commons, it has just now gained an added 
attraction in the Memorial Window to Milton, 
which has been placed there by the munificence of 
Mr. George W. Childs, of Philadelphia." 



AMERICAN COMMENT. 

The leading newspapers of the United States 
very generally published interesting accounts by 
cable of the dedicatory ceremonies, with appropriate 
comments thereupon. From the mass of such 
accounts or comments which were collected by the 
Editor he has selected the following only from the 
'Brooklyn Eagle' of February 19, 1888, as suggestive 
of the character of them all : — 

''Yesterday the ceremony of unveiling the Milton 
Memorial Window presented to St. Margaret's 
Church, Westminster, by George W. Childs, Esq., 
of Philadelphia, attracted one of the largest congrega- 
tions ever gathered within the walls of the venerable 



236 The Mitton^Window, 

edifice. Archdeacon Farrar preached the sermon, 
postponing his usual Lenten exhortation and con- 
fining his remarks to the lessons of Christianity as 
exemphfied by the noble life of the great EngHsh 
poet and moralist. The brief extracts communi- 
cated by cable indicate that the effort was worthy 
of the speaker and the occasion. He confessed the 
satisfaction it gave him that the Church of St. Mar- 
garet's should furnish another ihustration of those 
bonds of common blood, traditions, language, and 
affection which unite the mother country with her 
marvelous offspring, the giant Republic of the West, 
and alluded to the peculiar fitness of the honor done 
by an American to the memory of one who repre- 
sented much that was most deeply loved in the 
Commonwealth, which, failing in England, inspired 
vigor and nobleness in the Commonwealth to which 
it gave birth beyond the sea. 

" Need it be said that the countrymen of 
Mr. Childs participate with him in the reciproca- 
tion of the feeling which inspired these utterances of 
Archdeacon Farrar? The motive that prompted the 
Philadelphia philanthropist is a motive which chal- 
lenges the approval and sympathy of every enlight- 
ened American. There is, in his gift of the Milton 
Window, a teaching larger than that of any sect, class, 



The Milton Window. 2^7 

or faction. It has even a nobler significance than that 
to which the archdeacon adverted. It means more 
than a recognition of the ties that unite the two 
leading nations of the Anglo-Saxon race. It is an 
expression of the veneration which fills every 
elevated mind for one of the most extraordinary 
examples in the history of genius and virtue. In 
conceiving this honor to the memory of Milton, 
Mr. Childs revealed, not only the benevolence of his 
nature, but his appreciation of the truly great and 
good. Like his Shakspeare Memorial and the 
beautiful Windows in the ancient Abbey that recall 
the genius of Herbert and Cowper, it bespeaks the 
lofty ideals not less than the kindly impulses of the 
donor. 

•' Of the author of * Paradise Lost,' it has been 
said that he is withdrawn from the ordinary world 
as an Alp is withdrawn — by vastness, by soli- 
tariness of snows, and by commerce with heaven. 
Mr. Childs has shown that the ordinary world may 
venture to invade this isolation and to mitigate the 
grandeur of the poet's solitude by the proofs that 
his genius cannot thus divorce him from the great 
heart of humanity. If the sublimity of his intellect 
and the austerity of his morals lift him far above his 
kind, the pathos of his life and those passages in 



238 



The Milto7i Window. 



which he confesses his heritage of v/eakness and 
sorrow, make him our brother and equak Wisely 
has Mr. Childs chosen this last object of his gene- 
rosity and munificence. Fittingly have the English 
people, speaking by the tongue of Archdeacon 
Farrar, accepted the offering as at once a tribute to 
the mighty dead and as a pledge of the fraternity of 
the race that boasts his ashes as a consecrated 
legacy." 




THE BISHOPS ANDREWES AND KEN 
MEMORIAL 



IN 



ST. THOMAS'S CHURCH, WINCHESTER. 




THE REREDOS OF ST. THOMAS'S CHURCH, 
WINCHESTER. 




[MONG the gifts which Mr. Childs has 
made to England is that of the Reredos 
which now is one of the most striking 
adornments of St. Thomas's Church, Winchester. 

The inception of this gift is to be found in a 
letter written October ii, 1887, to Mr. Childs by 
his friend, the Reverend Arthur B. Sole, Rector of 
St. Thomas's Church. 

Referring to the Herbert and Cowper Memorial in 
Westminster Abbey, and to the Shakspeare Foun- 
tain at Stratford, Mr. Sole said : — 

" Now that you have shown the Midland Counties 
and the Metropolis an American citizen's apprecia- 
tion of England's great poets, you must not leave 
out in the cold the ancient city of the country, Win- 
chester, the one centre to which every American is 

attracted. 

16 241 



242 The Bishops Andrewes and Ken Memorial. 

"Could you not give us a monument or memorial 
to Bishop Ken, who lived close under the shadow of 
St. Thomas's old Church ? We sorely need a new 
Reredos, and coming from a well-known citizen of 
that Greater Britain beyond the sea the gift would be 
highly esteemed by Englishmen." 

With this request Mr. Childs complied with 
characteristic generosity. 

In a letter bearing date December 6, 1887, the 
Rev. Mr. Sole said: "We feel very grateful to you 
for your ready compliance with my request, and for 
choosing our Church as the recipient of your gift 
which shall show respect and veneration for the good 
Bishop Ken. The church is a very noble one, and 
the largest in Winchester, so that it is fitting his 
monument shall be in it. 

" When your gift comes to be told of it is not un- 
likely that the Cathedral authorities will think that 
they, perhaps, had the first claim. I think not, how- 
ever, for the good Bishop was a parish Churchman, 
and loved to worship in his Churches, only visiting 
his Cathedral for state and special services. 

" It has been suggested that you might like to 
have good Bishop Andrewes's name connected with 
Bishop Ken in the work, since he was very often 



The Bishops Andrewes and Ken Memorial. 243 

with us in Winchester, and the Church of the seven- 
teenth century owes much to him." 

On December 10, 1888, the Rector of St. 
Thomas's again wrote to Mr. Childs to acknowledge 
a draft for a sum sufificient to pay for the execution 
of the work. He said : " We all feel very grateful 
to you for your keen interest in St. Thomas's Church 
which your generous draft so substantially ex- 
presses. 

*' I waited, before acknowledging it, until I could 
inclose a rough sketch of the design. 

" I have made known your kind response to my 
suggestion to the Dean and the Bishop, and they were 
in accord that your gift manifests a most fraternal 
feeling for the Old Mother Country which is most 
pleasing to us. They agreed with me that it would 
be most fitting, if the gift should take the form of a 
carved stone Reredos for the Church. In your kind 
letter you said: T leave the money in your hands to 
do with it as you deem best.' 

«' We thought of a Window and drew out plans. 

"The positions in the East where we should like 
to have placed it are already filled, and as the windows 
are large we thought the Reredos might manifest and 
demonstrate portions of ' the Te Deum' very suitably, 



244 ^^^^ Bishops Andrewes and Ken Memorial. 

so as to carry out your wish to commemorate 
Bishop Ken and Bishop Andrewes. 

'' The Church is dedicated to St. Thomas and St. 
Clement, so we are grouping tJieni in one panel, and 
opposite to them Bishop Ken and Bishop Andrewes. 
This enables us to insert the words below this group, 
so helpful and appropriate since the gift comes from 
across the seas, 'The Holy Church throughout all the 
world doth acknowledge Thee.' 

"The stone masons will beat work upon the Rere- 
dos in a yard just opposite the place where Bishop 
Ken's house was situate, and in the garden of the 
palace in which Bishop Andrewes lived." 

Again, on December 28, 1888, the Rev. Mr. Sole 
wrote to Mr. Childs, saying : — 

**The following resolution was passed at a special 
and influential Vestry that was called last week to 
discuss the Reredos: — 



" * Parish of St. Thomas and St. Clement, 

Winchester. 

" * At a Vestry meeting held according to due 
notice on Thursday, the 20th day of December, 1888, 
to consider the subject of the gift of a Reredos to 
the Church by an American citizen, and to record a 
vote of thanks to the donor : — 



The Bishops Andrewes and Ken Memorial. 245 

" ' Proposed by Captain Budden and seconded by 
Mr. Alfred King, that this meeting of the Rector, 
Church-wardens, and parishioners in Vestry assem- 
bled, do hereby offer to George William Childs, 
Esquire, of Philadelphia, U. S. A., their most cordial 
thanks for his very handsome gift towards the beau- 
tifying of their parish Church, and to which they 
would beg to add the hope that, should Mr. Childs 
ever visit England, they may have the pleasure of 
seeing him in Winchester, and thanking him in 
person for the kindly interest he has shown in this 
ancient city and parish of the Old Mother Country. 

"'ALFRED KING, 

"'J. A. MORRAH (Colonel), 

" ' Church Wardens. 
"'ARTHUR N. SOLE, Rector: 

" The Reredos is now progressing in the work- 
men's hands, and I hope to be able soon to send 
you a photograph of it in its completed state." 

On February 15, 1889, the Rector of St. Thomas's 
wrote to Mr. Childs as follows regarding the 
Memorial: — 

"The Reredos is growing rapidly, and will be 
unveiled at 4.30 on Friday afternoon, March I, by 
the Very Reverend, the Dean of Worcester. 



246 . The Bishops Andrewes and Ken Memorial. 

" He is a most eloquent preacher, and I have no 
doubt will say some helpful words concerning the 
circumstances under which the erection is made, 
and your very sympathetic kindness and good-will 
toward the old city of your Fathers. 

* The inscription I have not yet prepared. I have 
waited to take counsel with the Bishop. I should 
like it to take such a form as this : — 

* To the glory of God, this Reredos has been erected by 
George W. Childs, of Philadelphia, U. S. A., and to record the 
undying esteem that is shared by the Church of the New World, 
reciprocally with the ancient city of Winchester, in the saintly lives 
of two of her sons and citizens, Bishop Andrewes and Bishop Ken.' 

" The Reredos was unveiled last Friday before a 
large concourse of worshipers. It looked very 
beautiful, and was spoken of by many as a munifi- 
cent gift of love from you. 

" We all recognize it as a work expressive of your 
sympathy and intercommunion of spirit with us, as 
you co-operate to promote the beauty and reverence 
of God's sanctuary in this ancient city. 

" I hope you will like the inscription that we have 
placed upon it. The wording of it is that of Canon 
Basil Wilberforce. We shall all much hope, some 
day, to see you in Winchester, that we may show 



The Bishops Andrezves and Ken Memorial. 247 

you our church, the ripening outward beauty of 
which, I pray God, is but correspondent to the 
inward progression of souls spiritually built up 
within it." 



AN ACCOUNT OF THE DEDICATION. 

Under the caption of " The New Reredos at St. 
Thomas's, Winchester," ' The Hampshire Gazette,' in 
its issue of March 2, 1889, of that ancient metropolis 
said : — 

"An interesting and historical Reredos has been 
placed in the Church of Sts. Thomas and Clement, 
Winchester, under unusually pleasing circumstances, 
connecting Old and New England. A friend of the 
Rector's (the Rev. A. B. Sole), Mr. Childs, of Phila- 
delphia, presented him with a check to defray the 
cost of a Reredos to commemorate Bishops Lancelot 
Andrewes and Ken, prelates certainly of saintly re- 
nown, whose names and fame are revered wherever 
Englishmen are, for both were staunch Churchmen ; 
both have left writings which are yet prized as 
manuals of devotion and aids to religion ; and both 
have an historic interest, for Andrewes administered 
the Diocese of Canterbury whilst the Primate from 
an accident to his keeper was held to be incapa- 



248 The Bishops Aitdrewes and Ken Memorial. 

citated, and Ken was one of the * Seven Bishops.' 
Both are to be remembered for their learning, and 
Ken especially to be honored for his firmness of 
purpose against William III. (when Prince of 
Orange), Charles II., and James, when he considered 
morality and honor were jeopardized. Of Andrewes 
it may be said his preaching was excellent, and 
James I., who in Presbyterian Scotland always had 
some doubts about the sermon in prospect, in Eng- 
land was delighted with Andrewes as a preacher. 
Ken rebuked here, when he was a prebend, Charles 
II. ; and he is honored also as a Wykehamist. It is 
pleasant to know that Charles, although Ken re- 
fused his house for the use of Nell Gwynne, respected 
the ' little man,' and made him Bishop of Bath and 
Wells. The Reredos is a very handsome work, 
although it includes the arcade of the former one, 
which consisted of panels with the Commandments, 
etc. These are now removed to another place close 
by, and the spandrils of the arches hav^e been carved 
with conventional foliage and fruit, and an angel in 
the north and south spandrils. Above this arcade 
is another of five panels, forming, with its cornice 
and cross, a pediment or finish to the Reredos. The 
cross, with the Agnus Dei painted in colors, sur- 
mounts the whole, and the hand-mouldings and 



The Bishops Andrewes and Ken Memorial. 249 

other ornaments of the shafts of the panels are in the 
best style of work. The stonework is from a design 
by Mr, Herbert Kitchin, and is of early English 
character. Caen stone has been used. The carv- 
ings have been very beautifully executed by Mr. A. 
Whitley, the carver from the Cathedral, under the 
supervision of Mr. B. T. Kitchin. The stonework 
of the Reredos was by the Cathedral staff of masons, 
under their foreman, Mr. Hodges. In the panels are 
fixed as many paintings by ladies of Winchester. 
In the centre is Christ ascending and blessing; on 
either side are angels with the chalice and * golden 
crown;' and on the outer panels are, on the south, 
Saints Thomas, the apostle, and Clement, the third 
Bishop of Rome, martyred in the time of Trajan, 
each with emblems — the spear and the anchor; in 
the north are representations of Andrewes standing 
with his pastoral staff, and Ken kneeling, both vested 
in Reformation robes, and with mitres at their feet. 
The pastoral staff indicates that Andrewes died in 
office, whereas Ken, from scruples of conscience, 
died out of office, being a non-juror. Close to this 
panel is another in the wall over the credence table, 
which bears, under a cross-surmounted globe deline- 
ating England and America, the following words — 
* Stat Crux duni evolvit orbis,' followed by this 
inscription : — 



250 The Bishops Andrewes and Ken Memorial. 

' In token of the unity of spirit and bond of peace between the 
Churches of the Old and New World, this Reredos is dedicated by 
George W. Childs, of Philadelphia, to the memory of two Bishops 
of the Church universal, both connected with this Cathedral city — 
Bishop Lancelot Andrewes and Bishop Ken. — MDCCCLXXXix.' 

The lower panels have also paintings of angels with 
musical instruments typical of praise. These, like the 
upper tier, are by Winchester ladies, and it is not flat- 
tering to say that their work is artistic, striking, and 
well worthy of the place, the Church, and the prelates 
commemorated by this liberal Trans- Atlantic Church- 
man and lover of the Mother Country, from which he 
is proud to trace his family : and whilst we allude to 
descent, let it not be forgotten that the family of 
Lancelot Andrewes is extant in the person of the 
worthy Master of St. Cross, and also, we believe, in 
that of the Rev. Dr. Fearon. Mr. Jelly, of this city, 
has executed some of the color decorations essential 
to the design. The arcade, in addition to the 
Reredos, which runs across the east end of the church, 
has been renovated and carved. 

"The Reredos was unveiled yesterday (St. David's 
Day), at Choral Evensong. There was a numerous 
congregation. The service opened with the Old 
Hundredth Psalm. The anthem was ' How amiable 
are Thy tabernacles,' and it was well sung by the 
choir. The hymn before the sermon was ' We love 



TJie Bishops Andrewes and Ken Memoidal. 251 

the place, O God.' The preacher was the Very Rev. 
Dr. Gott, Dean of Worcester, who chose for his text 
the words 'From strength to strength,' from the 
seventh verse of the 84th Psalm. In the course of 
an eloquent sermon he said they were met together 
that afternoon to worship God, not only in spirit but 
in truth, and to give a blessing in God's name to the 
new addition to the altar which graced their church, 
and indicated' their devotion. Their church was 
dedicated in a twofold way to St. Thomas and St 
Clement. The city of Winchester was dear to him 
as one who owed to the School of Winchester 
all the little learning that he had. A great living 
writer had said ' History is our modern prophecy.' 
The history we could recall to-day, which was per- 
sonified in names so well known as St. Thomas, St. 
Clement, Bishop Andrewes, and Bishop Ken, was 
prophecy at this end of the nineteenth century. 
Professor Westcott when he used these words meant 
that what had been done once might be done again. 
But he meant more than this ; he meant that God is 
the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever, and that 
what God did for the men whose names were bound 
up with that church and their city He was ready to 
do even for them and him. Yes, he meant that the 
history of the past had gone on increasing in its 



252 The Bishops Andrewes and Ken Memorial. 

power, in its beauty, in its holiness. Its motto had 
been * From strength to strength.' From age to 
age we had been ascending higher and nearer to God, 
and in these last days there arose before the hearts 
of those who strove to see God a giddy height on 
which we were standing, a very pinnacle of the Temple, 
on which, if we were no better than our fathers, we 
were far worse. In these days we might see more 
of the power of God than in the martyr days. As 
the coming of God drew nearer the Church must be 
more prepared. The Church was riper, the long 
summer-time had done its work, and the golden age 
of the Christendom of God was not the beginning of 
the Church, but its more splendid close — that close 
which perhaps it was destined he and they should 
see and take part in. As they looked across the 
ages to Clement and his fellow-Christians in St. 
Paul's time, and compared the conditions under 
which they worshiped with the freedom of the 
present day, it was indeed a great step from strength 
to strength. Coming to the others of the group of 
figures, the Dean said it might be there existed the 
thought that as the worshipers looked on those 
portraits of Bishop Andrewes and Bishop Ken they 
might be stimulated to pray as they did — fervently, 
pure!}', trusting in Christ by the help of the Holy 



The Bishops Andrewes and Ken Memorial. 253 

Ghost. The preacher passed in brief review the dis- 
tinguishing features in the lives and characters of 
Bishop Andrewes and Bishop Ken — Andrewes the 
great lover of boys, the great lover of nature, the 
man greatly beloved, the great lover of God ; Ken 
the Winchester schoolboy, the Wykehamist, the 
mention of whose name touched a chord which 
vibrated in more hearts than his in the church; Ken 
who at the bidding of conscience gave up libertyj pos- 
sessions, and what was more precious than all, his 
pastoral work ; Ken who so honored his King that 
in spite of what happened he gave up all rather than 
express allegiance to the man he regarded as an 
usurper when that king was a fugitive and an out- 
cast. Concluding, he asked what was the strength 
added to their Church since the days of Ken ? He 
did not think he could put it in words — he could not 
hold the world in his hands, he could not express 
the mighty strength which had come over the 
Church of God from those days till now ! How 
wide the Church had spread, how fertile had been 
her daughter Churches within the last century, how 
rich she was in founding new branches of the old 
Church, how strong in infusing the spirit of the one 
true religion — the religion of Christ — into the old 
religions of the East! How wonderful had been the 



254 The Bishops Andrewes and Ken Memorial. 

strength of the Church in the country of the donor 
who sent the offering to the city whence these two 
saintly men came! Were they personally going 
from strength to strength? As years passed over 
them, and as the troubles — perhaps the pleasures — 
of life thickened around them, were they going from 
strength to strength ? Let the faith be handed on 
pure and untarnished to their children, and their 
children's children, until at last they appeared before 
Him who was their Almighty strength, and more 
than conquerors received from Him the power which 
Eternity would bring. The hymn 'Lift the strain of 
high thanksgiving' was sung during the offertory." 

The Story of Mr. Childs's Memorials to some of 
the noblest of Old England's worthies, v/hich is here 
brought to an end, has grown under the hands of 
the Editor, despite his efforts to keep it within 
modest limits. But long as it is, he indulges, at 
least, the hope that it will be found interesting to 
those who agree with him that it is permitted to no one 
to do better work in this world than that of fostering 
fraternal feeling between peoples who are akin, but 
who are separated by the broad ocean, and who have 
been sometimes estranged by misunderstandings, 
conflicting interests, or untoward circumstances. 



The Bishops Andrewes and Ken Memorial. 255 

This is the work which Mr. Childs appears to the 
Editor to have had a mind to do in the making of 
every one of those memorial gifts to our cousins across 
the sea with whom Americans can claim even a closer 
degree of consanguinity than that of cousinship — 
their just claim is that of Common Brotherhood. 

The sacred poets, Herbert and Cowper ; Milton, 
the sublime singer of the Cromwellian epoch ; and 
Shakspeare, whose genius illuminates the present not 
less effulgently than it glorified the age of Elizabeth, 
spoke, and still do speak, in no strange tongue, but 
in our very own, in that of our Mother Country. In 
these great Masters of the English language, in their 
work and in their fame, Americans have also their 
full share and part, and whoso gives recognition to 
that which they did and reverence to their memories 
in noble, impressive monuments does that which 
strengthens the feeling of fraternity which nature 
itself demands should exist between the two coun- 
tries, whose peoples are of the same blood, and the 
fame of whose men of noble thought and deed is 
their common heritage. This, as it seems to the 
Editor, is what Mr. Childs has done, and for doing 
which he deserves the warmest gratitude of England 
and America. 




INDEX. 



AMERICANS, Matthew Ar- 
nold's criticism of, 196-198. 

Anderson, Mary, 146. 

Andrevves, Lancelot, Bishop, 242- 
243, 244, 247-248, 253. 

Annesley, Rev. F. H., 50. 

Arbuthnot, Rev. G., 50. 

Arden, Mary, mother of Shaks- 
peare, 23, 147. 

Arnold, Sir Edwin, 88 ; edito- 
rial of, 89-96. 

Arnold, Matthew, 194; ad- 
dress of, 196-205; death of, 
205. 

BACON, DELIA, theory of, 
28. 

Baltimore ' Daily News,' extract 
from, 142-144. 

Barnard, Rev. \\., 50. 

Barnum, P. T., proposal of, to re- 
move Shakspeare's house to 
America, 64, in, 145. 

Basse's ' Elegy on Shakspeare,' 3. 

Bird, Alderman of Stratford, 15, 

33, 50, 153- 
Birmingham ' Daiiy Post,' ex- 
tract from, 107-115. 

17 



Bishops Andrewes and Ken 
Memorial, in St. Thomas's 
Church, Winchester, 241-255, 

Booth, Edwin, 145, 146. 

Bright, John, quotation from, 156. 

Brooklyn ' Eagle,' extracts from, 
23-30, 235-238. 

CHILDS, GEORGE W., letter 
from, 190 ; letter to, extracts 
from, 177; telegram from, 
78 ; water from Fountain 
sent to, 107, 129. 
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, 29. 
Cook, Joel, 179. 

Cossins, J. A., architect of Foun- 
tain, 17, 50, 104. 
Cowper, William, 173-174, i?^. 

DEDICATION OF FOUN- 
tain, Account of, 30-34, 
106-107, 126-130. 
De La Warr, Earl, S3, 49> 82, 87^ 
117, 126; he proposes toast to 
President of United States, 52. 
Description of Fountain, 17-18, 

19-21, 10S-I09, 150-151. 
Dilke, Sir Chas. Wentworth, 168. 



258 



Index. 



EMERSON, RALPH WAL- 
do, quotation from, 73. 
' Evening Wisconsin,' Milwaukee, 
extract from, 139-141. 



F 



ARRAR, F. W., D. D., Arch- 
deacon of Westminster, letters 
from, 188-190, 19 1 -1 95; 
quotations from, 1 69-171, 
187; sermon by, 212-234, 
236. 
Field, Kate, 146. 
Flower, Charles E., 16, y^, 49, 
84, 145, 153; he proposes 
toast to Mr. Henry Irving, 
70-72. 
Flower, Edgar, iz^ 50, 84, 153. 

GARRICK, DAVID, portrait 
of, by Gainsborough, 130, 
147; quotation from, 2. 
Gott, Rev, Dr., Dean of Worces- 
ter, sermon by, 251-254. 
Gower, Lord Ronald, 50, 82, 88, 

97, 117, 124. 
Grant, Baron, erects statue to 
Shakspeare, 3. 

HALLIWELL - PHILLIPP3, 
James O., i, 35. 
' Hampshire Gazette,' extract 

from, 247-254. 
« Harper's Magazine,' extract 

from, 187. 
'Harper's Weekly,' extract from, 
144-156. 



Hathaway, Anne, 85, 90, lOO, 

Hall, Hon. A, Oakey, 125. 

Herbert and Cowper Memo- 
rial in Westminster Abbey, 
161-179. 

Herbert, George, quotation from 
Walton's life of, 172-173. 

' Historical Memorials,' quotations 
from, 161-163. 

Hodgson, Sir Arthur, Mayor 
of Stratford, ii, 12, 15, 16, 17, 

32, zz. 38, 76-77, 82, %i, 87, 

97, 103, 106, 108, 1 16-11 7, 
122, 126, 149; proposes toasts 
to Queen and the rest of the 
Royal Family, 51-52 ; receives 
message of thanks from Mr, 
Childs, 78. 
Holmes, Oliver W., poet, letter 
from, 22; poem of, 41-44, 106, 
no, 113, 129, 134, 137, 141. 



TRYING, HENRY, 31, 32, -^.z, 
1 34,40,82,84,88,91,92,93, 
94, 96, 97, 98, 99, 102, 103, 
106, 107, 108, no, 113, 114, 
n7, 118, 119, 122, 124, 134, 
137, 138, 143; drinks to Shaks- 
peare in first water that flows 
from Fountain, 49; reads Mr. 
Holmes's poem, 41 ; responds 
to Mr. Flower's toast, 72-75; 
speech of, 44-48, 127-129, 

131, HI- 
Irving, Washington, 29, 36, 80, 

87, 109, 114, 134, 145- 



Index. 



259 



'Illustrated London News,' ex- 
tract from, 16—17. 



J 



ONSON, BEN, 2, 3, 4, 24, 

25- 



KEN, THOMAS, BISHOP, 
242, 244, 247-248, 253. 
Kitchin, Herbert, designer of 
reredos, 249. 

LAFFAN, REV. R. S. De C, 
50, 88. 
Laffan, Mrs. R. S. de C, poem 

by, 78-79- 

Liverpool ' Post,' extract from, 
1 1 5-1 20, 

London ' Daily Telegraph,' ex- 
tract from, 83-87. 

London ■ Globe,' extract from, 
97-98. 

London ' Standard,' extract from, 
99-102. 

London * Times,' extracts from, 
13, 79-82. 

Lowell, James Russell, letter 
from, 35-38, Z^, 94, 98, 99, 
loi, 103, 106, no, 113, 114, 

Ii9» 134, 137, 138, 141; lines 
of, under Sir Walter Raleigh 
Window, 189. 

MACAULAY, JAMES, M. D., 
9, 10, II, 12, 13, 16, 17, 
39, 40, 50, 82, 83, '^'6, 103, 
107, 117, 126, 129, 131; 



his response to toast to 
Mr. Childs, 69-70. 
Marshall, Frank, 51, 85. 
Martin, Sir Theodore, K. C. B., 

50, 82, Z"^, 106, 117, 124, 126; 

he proposes toast to Shaks- 

peare, 60-62, ^t^. 
Milton, John, 184, 186, 187, 188- 

189, 199-205, 255 ; encomium 

of, 216-233. 
Milton Window in St. Marga- 
ret's Church, Westminster, 183- 

238. 

NEW YORK ' HERALD,' ex- 
tracts from, 13-15, 17-18, 
125-132. 
New York ' Times,' extracts from, 

136-137. 

New York ' World,' extracts from, 
19-21, 120-124. 

New York * Commercial Adver- 
tiser,' extract from, 137-139. 

Nevin, W. W., 178. 







WEN, SIR PHILIP CUN- 
hffe, 50, 82, 88, 97, 103, 
117, 124, 126; remarks of, 
48, 98, 131. 



'pALL MALL GAZETTE,' 

i- extract from, 102-I07. 
i Paradise Lost,' Milton's, 229. 
' Paradise Regained,' Milton's, 

229. 
Parkinson, J. C , 51, 85, 88, 117. 



26o 



Index. 



Tew in St. Margaret's, appropri- 
ated to Americans, i86, 214. 

Phelps, Hon. Edward J., Ameri- 
can Minister to England, 1Z^ 
40, 45, 49» S2, %i, 87, 94, 95' 
97, 103, 106, III, 117, 119, 
124, 126, 127, 131, 134, 137. 
193, 211 ; his response to toast 
to President of United States, 

53-59- 
Philadelphia 'Evening Telegraph,' 

extract from, 133-134. 

Philadelphia ' Public Ledger,' ex- 
tract from, 166-167. 

Philadelphia ' Times,' extract 
from, 135. 

President of United States, 
toast to, 52. 

RALEIGH, SIR WALTER, 
Memorial Window to, in 
St. Margaret's, 187, 189, 
213. 
Red Horse Inn, 147. 
Resolution of Council of Strat- 
ford, accepting Fountain, 12, 13. 
Resolution of thanks to Mr. Childs, 
from Vestry of St. Thomas's 
Church, 245. 

S T.MARGARET'S CHURCH 
Westminster, origin of, 185 ; 
Milton Window in, 10, 149, 
183-238; description of, 1 94j 
207-208 ; unveiling of, 193- 
194, 235-236; pew in for 



Americans, 186, 214; Raleigh 
window in, 187, 189, 213. 

St. Thomas's Church, Winchester, 
reredos in, 241, 243-244, 245, 
247; description of, 248-250; 
unveiling of, 250-251. 

Sala, George Augustus, 16. 

' Samson Agonistes,' Milton's, 230- 
231. 

Shakspeare, John, father of Shaks- 
peare, I, 26, 90. 

Shakspeare, Richard, ancestor of 
Shakspeare, I. 

Shakspeare, William, I, 2, 3, 4, 
5, 10, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 
46-47, 60-62, 72-73, 89-91, 
loo-ioi, 102, III, 142, 201, 
220, 255; pall-bearer of, 29; 
toast to, 60—62. 

Shakspeare Inn, 147. 

Shakspeare Memorial Building, 
86, 145. 

Site of Fountain selected, 16—17. 

Sole, Rev. Arthur B., letters from, 
241-247. 

Stanley, Rev. Arthur P., Dean 
of Westminster, 15, 39, 109, 
161-167, 177, 178; letters from, 
6-7, 7-8; note by, 175-176. 

" State Services" in St. Margaret's 
Church, 186. 

Stratford-upon-Avon Foun- 
tain, 1-157. 

Stratford-upon-Avon ' Herald,' ex- 
tract from, 30-79. 

' Sunday at Home,' London, ex- 
tract from, 175-176. 



Index. 



261 



TIMMINS, SAMUEL, 13, 16, 
51, 85, 88, III ; he pro- 
poses toast to Sir Arthur 
Hodgson, 75-77. 
Trinity Holy Church, Stratford, 
100, 146; effigy of Shaks- 
peare in, 2 ; memorial win- 
dow proposed for, 6, 7-8 ; 
proposed restoration of, 9. 

VICTORIA, QUEEN, Jubilee 
Year of, 10, 12, 13; 15, 16, 

17, 19. 31. 39, 44, 57, 92; 
message from, 59, 95, 98, 
99, no, 115, 119, 122; 
toast to, 51-52. 
•'Vignettes of Travel,' quotation 
from, 178-179. 



w 



ALTER, JOHN, proprietor 
London ' Times,' 50, 82, 
87, 88, 97, 105, no, 114, 



117, 126, 131-132; pro- 
poses toast to Mr. Childs 
and gives short sketch of 
his life, 62-68. 
Walton, Izaak, 172. 
Warwick ' Advertiser,' extract 

from, 99. 
WestminsterAbbey,T6i-i72, 177; 

bust of Shakspeare in, 2, 3 ; 

Herbert and Cowper Memorial 

Window in, 6, to, 15, 17, 27, 

39, 97, 109, 116, 148, 165- 

167; description of, 176. 
Whittier, John G., letters from, 

38, no, 113, 209; lines by, 

208, 216. 
Williams, Roger, 215. 
Winter, William, 144. 
Woodcock, Catherine, wife of 

Milton, 186, 187, 195, 199. 
Wordsworth, William, quotations 

from, 217, 219, 233. 




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